Chaos often breeds life, When order breeds habit
by Panshope
Summary: The title says it all.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay so some things will not be completely accurate, I have no knowledge of how an autopsy is done (other than reading patricia cornwell books) and what medical terms are so don't expect much of that. I have however got a national diploma in Forensics so I do know somewhat of what i'm talking about.**

**This story is planned! :) As for my others I am still doing them it's just my laptop needs fixing. **

**I apologize for any inaccuracies. Enjoy ~ **

After she had finished suturing the Y incision she pulled of her bloodied gloves and threw them into the bio-hazard bin in the corner of the man on the cold steel table was mid 40's, his black hair just beginning to turn grey, five foot eight, not very muscular and had once broken his arm. Cause of death was a blunt force trauma to the temple on the right side of his head.

Retreating upstairs to her office she sat down and began to finish her paperwork on Edward Jones, Case Number 20394. A few minutes later there was a tapping at the door and she looked up and smiled at the sight of her dear friend Captain Harada.

Chie Harada was 22 years old and managed to be promoted to the rank of Captain at such a young age as she was quite the detective. She wore a grey trench coat, her glasses had blue frames and her hair was a pleasant ash colour.

"Hey doc." she walked in. "Finished up with him then?"

"Almost, just the report to write."she answered.

At that moment a girl with midnight blue hair walked in, dressed in bike leathers and plopped herself down in the chair next to where Chie was standing.

"Ah doc, this is Natsuki Kuga, Kuga this is Shizuru Fujino. Chief medical examiner."

"Yeah I know who she is, it's hard not too. There's like a story involving you every month or something." she looked around the room noticing that she kept plants and a shelf which toy cars sat upon. "Iunno how you work in a place like this."

"Kuga here is my newest rookie." Chie ruffled the girls hair. "So I'm stuck babysitting this mutt."

"Ger'off me!" she batted away the hands invading her personal space. "I'm not your damn dog y'know."

Both women laughed causing Natsuki to blush a little before defiantly crossing her arms over her chest. "Although her manners need some work she's a pretty darn clever one."

_'What a cute girl.' _Shizuru thought.

"Ara, well that is quite something." she looked over and her eyes met emerald green ones, they held their gaze a little longer than two strangers normally would have but then she turned back to Chie "How is your wife? Aoi-san?"

"She's quite well thank you, although she's getting annoyed with the pregnancy. It keeping her house-bound and all, you should come visit. The company would be much appreciated."

"Thank you for the offer but we both know your not here this late for a social call." she stood up. "Do I need to grab my coat?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so."

Arriving at the scene Shizuru got out of the Captains car and what met her was police cars flashing their lights, crime scene tape sealing off an alleyway, and police making sure no-one entered.. A small group of bystanders had formed around the area, watching to see what would happen or they were just plain annoyed that they had been woken up at this god awful hour. It wouldn't be long before the press would arrive.

She heard the roar of a bike engine and turned to see Kuga step off and pull off her helmet; she was enchanted by the way the younger girl moved and how fitting the leathers were, mentally chastising herself she shook her head and walked under the yellow tape.

Although this slight movement did not go un-noticed by the Captain who smirked to herself sensing that an adventure was about to begin.

Shizuru took the flash light handed to her and bent down in front of the body, scanning the victim.

"What we have here is an 18-20 year old female, Caucasian, naked. Her clothes haven't been found yet if they're still here." she bent down and shone her flash light on the dead womans right wrist. "She's wearing a watch."

"It's too dark out to tell anything but I can at least estimate time of death." she answered then took a chemical thermometer and put it under the armpit. "So, tell me about Natsuki."

A playful grin came across Chies' lips. "Ah well she's a little rough around the edges, doesn't like getting close to anyone. She has a brilliant mind though, one of the sharpest I know."

"Is that to suggest she could surpass you?"

"Haha, all this comes with experience but I'm sure she could. Kuga's probably looking down the alley for evidence, clothes, scenarios and all that. Is someone interested?"

"Body temp is 31.5°C suggesting she has been dead for just over four hours, rigor hasn't set in just yet. An interest? Well if checking out the people whom I work with is an interest then I certainly do." she stood up.

"Checking her out ey?" she gave Shizuru a suggestive look as if to say 'I saw you looking.'

"Captain Harada that would be highly un-professional." she answered.

Chie laughed. "Yeah yeah Fujino, whatever you say." she rolled her eyes then asked "You going to post her tonight?"

"No, I want to take a look around here if you don't mind escorting me?" she smiled.

"I can never refuse a request from such a pretty lady." Chie answered and they both walked down the alley.

Being careful to shine the light before stepping anywhere, the common things were found; rubbish, dirt, dustbins, rats, old newspapers. At the end was a dumpster. A large green one, they shone their lights up and what shone back where two emerald eyes.

"Ah geez! Kuga don't go sneaking around like that." Chie sighed. "Watcha got pup?"

"I'm not your pet. There are clothes in here, most likely belonging to her. Forensics can come and get 'em. I didn't see any tracks round the back or signs of anyone being here recently. You guys got anything?"

"No, I was just walking Shizuru here down the scene, we won't know much more till you post her in the morning though."

"Actually I'll do the post tonight, it's easier as the body wont be so stiff. I'll let you know what I find. Say hello to your wife for me."

"Hold up, I'll come with you." Natsuki said.

"I'm sure I'll be fine and you can read my report when I'm done." she said this as officers and detectives felt a need to be there when she did the autopsy to try and prove they were macho enough to handle it but more often than not they ended up running from the room or hurling their stomach contents back up and frankly she had no time for either.

Natsuki glared at the crimson eyed woman. "I'm going whether you like it or not." she had already had enough of Chie treating her like a child.

"Ara, Natsuki is rather adorable when she is trying to be tough." Shizuru giggled.

The bluenette let out a small growl which only managed to worsen things.

"Such a cute little puppy you have here Captain, so cute I could almost kiss her."

Even though the alleyway was dark Natsukis blush was evident all over her face as she thought about the older womans lips on hers. _'I bet they feel so soft' _

Both Chie and Shizuru noticed Natsuki was daydreaming; they exchanged looks and Chie nodded.

Shizuru walked up close behind her and whispered. "Nat-su-ki."

Natsuki felt the hot breath on her ear and jumped out of her daydream almost instantly, another blush began to creep its way onto her face. "I-I, um, I'll s-see you there!" she managed to say before walking off.

"Fujino, you still got it." Chie winked.

Captain Harada had driven her back and as they pulled in to the building and parked they both noticed a motorcycle tucked out of the way in fear of it getting dinged or stolen.

"Well you've got the mutt for tonight, be gentle." she winked.

"I always am am I not?"

"Pfttt; yeah right. Remember the time I interrupted you when you were in the middle of an autopsy? You turned around covered in blood holding up a scalpel and demanded that I leave. Imagine seeing_ that_ on your first day."

"Well Captain Harada you were being rather insensitive about the man on my table. He was already naked and completely opened up to us; we should have the decency to treat them with dignity. The dead can only communicate with me this way and by hell I will not have someone degrade an already dead human being. People seem to forget that the dead do have families, loved ones, pets and belongings which get left in their wake. It's not just another case number, another scene to process and solve, that person was once living and they deserve the best we can give them."

Chie looked at her with soft eyes. "I know Shizuru, I know." she squeezed her hand. "And c'mon call me Chie already." she smiled.

They said their goodbyes and and Shizuru made her way to the changing room next to the morgue where she found a certain bluenette sitting upon one of the benches waiting for her.

"Took your time didn't you?" she looked up.

"I had a few things to take care of at the scene regarding the body." she smiled. "And it's hardly fair since you rushed off."

Natsuki remembered the feeling of Shizurus hot breath on her ear and her whispered name but shot up and turned away not giving Shizuru the satisfaction of seeing her blush again.

"We gotta suit up. ." her voice clouded with embarrassment.

They suited up in gowns, sleeve protectors, shoe covers, surgical caps and face masks with shields. Natsuki noticed the brunette pulling on another pair of gloves and looked puzzled at the gesture. "Two pairs?"

Shizuru looked into to green eyes slightly blurred by the shield. "Just a precaution, we don't know who she is and what she might have. It pays to be cautious."

She made an 'o' shape with her mouth and pulled on another pair of gloves before following her to the autopsy suite. Inside the suite was completely made from stainless steel including the cabinets, worktops, doors and sinks. The body pouch had already been delivered and was parked in the middle of the floor waiting to be moved to a steel table.

"Good Morning Takumi-kun." Shizuru smiled at the young man who was dressed like them and was labeling tubes, inspecting surgical equipment and sorting out all the necessary paperwork for her.

Takumi Tohika was a lean man, with short brown hair and a very kind disposition. "Morning Chief; you're still working?"

"Yes, unfortunately the deceased can't decide when they are found." she walked over to the pouch and unzipped it revealing the slightly blotched face of a young woman.

She was probably no more than 20 years old, high cheekbones, blonde hair, a strong jawline. Shizuru sighed, the girl was so young, just barely beginning her life and somebody decided that they would end it. No matter how many autopsies she had done it always made her sad to see such young people in her morgue but the worst was seeing children. By hell it was the worst.

"You should . . really … get some . . rest Chief." Takumis breathing was labored; he was recovering from heart surgery.

"Have you taken your tablets today?" she asked, concerned.

He gave her a sheepish smile. "I kinda forget, you'd think after taking them for so long I would remember."

Natsuki moved around to the other side of the pouch, not enjoying feeling ignored by the older woman.

"Ara, gomen, Takumi Tohika this is Natsuki Kuga. She will be working with us."

"Hey . ." Natsuki answered in her gruff voice.

"It's a . . pleasure to . .meet you. . Kuga-san."

"How about you go take your tablets then head off home? We can't have you passing out in here plus your not suppose to be working full shifts for another few weeks."

"But what about . ."

"It's fine, Natsuki here will help me and you've already set everything in order. Go on."

At the sound of her name Natsukis ears perked up _'Did she just call me by my first name? What right does she have not that I mind her using it, I like the way in sounds when she says it, in that sexy accent . .Wait! What NO!'_

"Well I think I'll. . . do that then seeming. . . as everything is set out already, I'll see you. . later on Chief."

"Get some rest okay." she smiled and turned to Natsuki. "Shall we get started?"

Natsuki just nodded swallowing the lump in her throat whilst helping the Shizuru move the body from the pouch to a cleaned steel table; bodies were quite heavy and with some struggling they managed to lift the woman on to the silver surface.

Natsuki could not participate much in the overall autopsy as she wasn't qualified to do so and a prosecutor could accuse them of a number of things from tampering with evidence to falsifying reports.

Firstly they photographed the body for reference purposes; it was standard procedure and then studied the body looking for any trace evidence; fibers, residue, strange marks but they found none. Shizuru then combed through the womans hair, removing anything that might be caught into a paper envelope which was then labeled, dated and signed by her. She removed the watch from the wrist and noted that it was broken; the glass front smashed an the metal around it scuffed which could have been caused either before or after the victims death but why would you continue to wear a broken watch? She put it into a plastic evidence bag and again labelled, dated and signed it.

"Damn there's barely anything here! How are we suppose to catch the scum that did this if we don't have anything to connect them?" Natsuki vented.

"We'll find something, just be patient." Shizuru said as we walked over to the hose and began to wash down the body.

"How are you so sure?" the bluenette asked raising her voice above the noise.

She waited until she had finished washing the body and answered. "Well you and Captain Harada are working this case so I'm sure with your combined talents you can figure it out. I have faith in you Natsuki." she smiled.

"Urh . . um. . thanks?" she focused her eyes back on the body.

_'Ara, did I just say that? But I do have faith in her, what a strange feeling.'_

She photographed the body again then picked up her clipboard and roughly sketched the body, after all it didn't have to be a masterpiece just a diagram showing proportions and markings.

Natsuki watched her work, the intensity in her eyes, the cogs turning inside her head, everything she had learnt being put into practice, all those years spent learning yet Shizuru Fujino made it look absolutely effortless. She showed no nerves, no fear, no panic just every now and then she would smile at Natsuki then continue on with her work.

"Are you ready for this Natsuki?" she asked; her face serious.

"Huh? Ready for what?" she looked into ruby eyes.

"I'm about to begin the autopsy; I need to know if you are able to handle this. I wont think any less of you if you decide to leave seeing as this is your first time viewing."

"Baka! What do you take me for? I'm not some pansy, if it's my case I work every inch of it." defiance glowed in her eyes.

The brunette nodded before picking up her scalpel holding it poised over the body ready to cut.

"Wait! What's that?" Natsuki pointed to just under the left breast.

Shizuru put down the scalpel and gently moved the flesh to reveal a red marking, seeming to be a symbol of some sort. It was a small red circle in the center of another circle with a point on one end so that the outer circle wasn't completely closed.

"Hmm. ." Natsuki bent closer. "It didn't come off when you washed down the body so I'm thinking maybe a tattoo of some sort?"

"It could be." she noted it down and sketched it on another piece of paper. "Shall we begin?"


	2. Shall we begin?

**A/N: I'm back, I have now got a new laptop so there is no excuse for me not to update. It's so pretty :) But yes this is the second chapter, I was going to add more but then I thought it may just be too much information at once. Thankyou for the reviews and whoever else who reads this anonomously. **

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"_Shall we begin?" _

Again Natsuki nodded, her eyes following the scalpel which moved the through the air and down to the exposed skin. Shizurus latex-gloved fingers gently but firmly applied pressure to the blade breaking the skin then swiftly moving from each shoulder the down slightly past the navel to create a Y incision.

She looked up to check on the young rookie who continued to stare at the body; her face slightly pale.

Shizuru was being delicate with Natsuki, checking on her as she went along with small glances in her direction to make sure she wasn't about to faint or vomit.

She had removed any bone obstructing her way to the organs and then took them out to weight them and note down any key points; whether anything was out of the ordinary, within normal limits, colour and size.

"Are you okay Natsuki?" she caught green eyes with ruby ones.

"Yeah I'm fine."

She looked into those deep pools of red and the uneasiness in her stomach settled and she didn't feel as faint.

"Okay, one last part and then were finished."

She moved closer to the head, taking the scalpel and cut from behind the left ear across the forehead then back around the right one. The skin on the face fell slack exposing the skull. Natsukis face drained of all colour and she could feel herself sweating.

_'Calm down. Calm down!' _Natsuki told herself.

Shizuru had picked up the stryker saw, turned it on and cut through the skull removing the skull cap.

_'Oh god.' _

She had heard about what a real autopsy was like from the older officers and senior members but that could not account for actually being here, inside the room watching it happen. Natsuki hadn't noticed but Shizuru was delicately handling the brain studying it.

"Oh crap, I'm gonna . . ." Natsuki bolted from the room throwing off her protective gear as she went.

* * *

She heard what sounded like her name being called, her head throbbed and her eyes wouldn't focus, she didn't like the blur it was causing.

"Natsuki?" came the soft voice. "Come on Detective Kuga, this is no time to be fainting."

"Urgh." the blunette groaned blinking repeatedly.

The black was replaced with fuzzy colours of which, as she could best make out were brown, red and the slight tinge of pink.

"That's it. Breathe slowly." she pressed her fingers against Natsukis neck checking her pulse; it was steadily getting stronger.

"What the hell? . ." she gripped her head. "Ah, fuck my head hurts."

"Can you stand?"

Her vision was still blurry so she couldn't quite put a face to the fuzzy colours. She blinked more slowly getting her focus back. When she did she suddenly became aware that Shizurus face was inches away from her own. Natsuki gerked back and smashed her head against what felt like metal.

"Argh! God DAMNIT!" she clutched the back of her head and leaned forward slightly.

She heard Shizuru chuckle then felt a firm hand on her arm lifting her up.

"There we go." she lifted Natsukis head up. "Just let me check you haven't suffered any serious injury." she checked her pupils and forehead.

"I'm fine. Honestly." the only thing that was damaged was her pride.

"It pays to be cautious Detective Kuga."

_'Detective Kuga? What happened to Natsuki?' _she thought.

She felt hands move through her hair, gently touching around her scalp. It made her stand stock still, Shizurus fingers were gentle and soft as they moved through her hair from place to place. When Natsuki was little she had always loved people stroking her hair, it was soothing and still well into adult hood that had not changed.

The brunette could tell that the younger girl was enjoying the sensation even if she wouldn't show it.

"Well, you seem fine, just a slight headache." she un-tangeled her hands from midnight blue locks and stepped back.

"I fainted?"

"Yes you did but not before you managed to throw of your protective gear and run into here." Shizuru gestured with her hand and Natsuki looked around noticing they were in the locker room just before the autopsy suite. "But don't worry Marguerite-san finished up for me whilst I tended to you."

At that moment, a teal haired woman turned the corner and stopped a few feet away. Her hair was shorter on one side than the other, her eyes a light but sharp grey. She could have only been a few years older than Natsuki herself.

"Everything is in order Dr. Fujino-sama." a small smirk played on her lips as her eyes flickered over to Natsuki. She knew she had fainted and knew it had hurt her pride.

Natsuki took an instant dislike to this woman; her jaw clenched and her face was as hard as stone as she stared back.

"Ookini Marguerite-san." she smiled at the woman who blushed then looked away. "Now Detective Kuga lets go up to my office."

As they walked away a pair of eyes noticed that Shizuru was still holding the girls arm. Angrily she slammed her locker shut and stalked off towards the showers.

"Just sit there, I'll be right back."

Natsuki sat down in the chair she had been in earlier that morning; it was beginning to get light outside and she needed to sleep. The office was quite bare, no degrees hung on the walls, no certificates that boasted of past achievements, the room was painted a light purple the same kind as lavender, the chairs were surprisingly comfortable and there was a potted tree in the right back corner of the room to add some life.

Her head throbbed and she gingerly touched it.

"That's guna leave a bruise."

"Well if Natsuki hadn't been so desperate to get away from me she could have averted this problem."

She swivelled in her seat to see the Kyoto woman holding a glass of water and two aspirin.

"I wasn't desperate! You just startled me is all . ."

Shizuru chuckled again before passing over the tablets and water. She walked around her desk and sat in the leather chair behind it, leaning her elbows on the desk and resting her chin oh her interlaced fingers. Natsuki swallowed the tablets and took a large gulp of water.

"And what's with the damn name changes? One minute it's Natsuki, the next it's Detective Kuga." she asked placing the glass on the desk.

She sighed leaning back in her chair. "You must understand that I need to keep a certain level of professionalism in my office. Marguerite-san has worked here a little over two years yet I have never addressed her by her first name."

"Yeah that's 'cause she's psycho."

"Shizuru smiled. "Is that a technical term?"

"Might as well be. You know she has a thing for you, you can tell in the way she looks at you."

"Tomoe knows full well that relationships within work are prohibited." she used Marguerites first name to gauge Natsukis reaction and there it was. The slightest flicker of anger. "Or is it that Natsuki wants to keep me for herself?"

"Baka. ." she mumbled quietly and looked away.

* * *

Natsuki moved through the crowds of university students; most of them talking, trying to recover from a hangover or inventing a plausible excuse or why they didn't have specific work with them.

She wasn't here to socialise and tried to keep it to a minimal level if she absolutely had to; her headphones blared loud music into her mind eradicating outside noise. It was better to enhance her skills this way when studying peoples body language; the less noise you could hear from them the easier it was to solely concentrate on body movement and gestures.

Pulling open the door to the lecture hall she made her way to the back of the room, in the corner out of sight. Sitting down she rested her legs on the table in-front, getting comfortable, taking off her headphones and pulling out her PSP as she started furiously tapping buttons.

Even though she was already with the police department she wanted to learn more than the average cop. Street smarts coupled with book smarts couldn't be a bad combination.

Today was another behavioural analysis lecture, or so she thought. The room was filling up but no one sat near her; for some unknown reason people never took the seat next to her. Not in class, not on buses, not in waiting rooms. Chie always joked that she had an anti-person bubble around her with a sign saying: "Will Bite." Not that Natsuki minded of course.

Natsuki didn't look up when she heard a mans voice but kept pounding her thumbs against the console.

" . . . therefore Dr. Fujino-sama will be taking over this part of the course."

Natsukis head shot up and her thumbs stopped moving, looking down at the podium she saw _her_ standing there gracefully, waiting to start.

"You have got to be kidding me?!" she whispered to herself.

"I hope this change will not cause too much of a disturbance in your studies but if you have any problems understanding anything please do not hesitate to ask." her strong yet kind voice filled the room.

Shizurus voice made her feel like she was on air, especially with her Kyoto accent and even more so when she spoke her name.

_'Nat-su-ki.'_

She blushed remembering the hot breath on her ear. She stared down at her; the crimson eyed beauty was wearing a skirt that showed just enough of her thigh, her top V-necked stopping at the start of her cleavage, a blazer buttoned up, her hair was twisted into a bun at the back of her head with hair falling either side of her face and as always her fringe was perfectly in place.

"Lets start shall we?" she smiled and everyone immediately gave her their undivided attention.

Shizuru put on her glasses and began talking about victims wounds and why people would do that, what psychological reasons could be behind it. Trying to find the essence of why.

She looked back down at her PSP to see the words INSTANT KILL plastered across the screen in red. Putting it away she decided to listen but it wasn't long before her ears picked up a certain conversation.

"Jeez man it looks like her breasts want to bust outta there!" a guy a row in-front of her commented.

"Talk about your naughty school teacher fantasies." the guy next to him replied.

Natsuki leaned just far enough forward to smack the both upside the head.

"YOWCH!!"

"OW!"

Shizuru stopped mid-sentence and looked up to where the commotion was coming from seeing two boys rubbing their ears and a certain bluenette with a triumphant smile on her face.

_'Ara.' _Shizuru inwardly smiled.

She cleared her throat and looked down at the list of students with picture ID's she had. "Kuga, Natsuki is it?"

"Ye-yeah?" did she get caught?

"Give me a possible reason as to why a criminal would do this." she replied smoothly.

"Urh . . ." Natsuki gave a sheepish smile. "Why what?"

Shizuru sighed. "As to why the assailant would bite the breasts of his victims."

"Oh, well that could be anger directed towards a female figure in his life and possibly symbolic as breasts represent femininity. Most likely his mother did not treat him well enough or something. Ritualistic maybe?"

"That's a half decent answer for someone who hasn't been paying attention but what Kuga-san has said here does hold some truth . ." she turned her attention back to the class.

_'Skill Kuga.' _she flopped back into her chair mentally praising herself.

* * *

The lecture came to an end, students got up and began to walk out. Some hesitating because they wanted more time with the infamous Fujino Shizuru but too shy to ask her a question.

For once Natsuki regretted picking the seat right at the back, it would make it harder for her to slip by the brunette un-noticed. Carefully moving with the crowd she tried to hide behind her classmates.

_'I'm almost there!' _

"Kuga-san may I have a word?" she asked without looking up from her briefcase.

Natsuki stopped dead, sighed then turned around and walked back to the podium glaring at anyone who dared look in her direction.

The last of the students filed out and suddenly she felt nervous to be alone with her.

Shizuru took off her glasses. "May I ask what all the ruckus was about?"

"Just some guys making in-appropriate comments." she shrugged.

"And you feel it's your duty to punish them?"

"Well, I . . it . . just. It was just rude is all."

"Ara, is Natsuki protecting me from rude comments?" she leaned forward resting her elbows on the podium.

This caused her cleavage to become more exposed, Natsukis eyes trailed down then a pink tinge rose to her cheeks.

She looked away, her eyes searching for something, anything else to focus on. "It, er, it was dis-respectful. They had no right."

"Ookini Natsuki but I'm a big girl now. A few comments wont harm me."

"Yeah well." Natsuki was slightly put off by this, she was only stopping those gerks from saying anything. "I'll er see you around."

"Of course." she smiled.

* * *

Two days went by in which neither Natsuki or Shizuru saw hide nor hair of the other.

Natsuki lounged on her couch about to eat the cheeseburger on her plate which was slathered in mayo. She lifted her burger up, mouth watering in anticipation and about to bite down when her phone rang.

Reluctantly she put down the burger and picked up the small vibrating object. "What? No, I'm fine. You sure? Okay I'll be right there." she flipped the phones cover down. "But not before I eat."

She raised the burger up again, so close to taking a bite when a hard knock sounded from the door. Placing the burger down, yet again she silently swore to tear off whoevers head it was that knocked on her door.

She swung it open to reveal Chie standing there.

"Captain Harada?" she asked confused. "You just called."

"A little birdie told me you were just about settling down to eat that lovely concoction of yours so I lied." she tapped her nose and smiled. "C'mon pup. It's late and I'm tired."

Outside it was black and chilly, stars pinpricked the night sky as she rode on her Ducati following the Captains car. Her mind wandered back to the dead girl, wondering if there was any new findings but all things took time. Time to collect samples, identify them, analyse them and double check.

The forensics labs were always backed up no matter what, even if you told them it was top priority but then again every cop said that.

Natsuki hadn't had time to change into her leathers or warmer clothes so jeans and a shirt had to do. She was cold and she was hungry.

After about twenty minutes or so she realised that they were heading some place else, they would have reached the medical examiners building by now.

Another twenty five minutes passed and Chie turned down a small road, following her it led to a set of gates and a guard booth.

She saw the guard walk over to the Captains car and after a few minutes the guard walked back into her booth and waved them both through.

The enclosed neighbourhood was quiet, every lawn was perfect, every car parked in the garage. The houses were a testament to their owners wealth whether it was a restored historical house or an industrial sized family home.

They pulled into one of the driveways, the Ducati roared gently in the quiet and Natsuki cut the engine.

The house they had pulled up to was not like the others; it did not boast of how wealthy the occupants were but it had a charming feel. Simplistic but not out-dated. It seemed as though this particular house had been designed and built to a set of plans to the point. It was beautiful.

"Victims house?" Natsuki asked as she walked to the door with Chie.

"You'll see." she yawned.

"Why are you so tired? It's what? 9:30 at the latest."

"You don't have a pregnant wife." she knocked on the door.

"I wouldn't want one."

Several moments later the door was opened by a young girl who could be no more than 11 with striking blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Glasses framed tired eyes.

"Ah, Captain Harada my aunts in the kitchen." the young girl moved aside to show them in but eyed Natsuki warily.

"Alyssa-chan! Call me Chie already!"

"I'm willing to go to Harada-kun. That's it."

"Hai, hai."

Natsukis nose had picked up on the wonderful aroma drifting from the back of the house. Where they stood was the living room containing a couch, an armchair and a large stone hearth fully stocked with wood. In between was a medium sized coffee table atop a rug.

The smell reminded her that she hadn't eaten all day prompting her stomach to protest, she followed Chie towards the back of the house as it suddenly opened up into an expansive kitchen.

There was a large window opposite her that looked out onto the garden and in front of this was a large sink in the middle, to the left of the sink was a dishwasher and a few cabinets but on the right side was most probably the biggest cooker she had ever seen. It had eight burners, two ovens, a grill and a bottom drawer, it was dark green and sat perfectly in the kitchen.

Tearing her eyes away from it she noticed the island in the middle. A large, solid length of mahogany wood and above this hung gleaming silver pots and pans.

"Amazing isn't it?" Chie commented as Nastuki recovered from awe.

"It's huge! Bloody hell, whoever lives here must be loaded."

"Well I would not consider myself "loaded" but financially secure yes."

Natsuki froze _'No, it can't be.'_

She turned around and saw the brunette standing there with an apron on which fitted her in all the right places.

Regaining her composure she looked at Chie. "Did I miss something? Another killing?"

"Not at all my pup!" she ruffled the blue locks. "Shizuru invited us for dinner." she answered dodging a swatting hand.

"Kannin na, Chie, Natsuki for it being so late. We had 3 cases and with Takumi-kun on sick leave it's a lot to handle including reports and other things." Shizuru explained as she busied around the kitchen.

"It's no problem at all." the captain flashed her best smile.

Natsuki stood, slightly bewildered at the whole situation. She was inside the Chief Medical Examiners; not to mention her lecturers home within days of being introduced.

"Please sit."

Chie took off her coat and draped it over the back of the stool and sat down at the island; Natsuki did the same placing her helmet down.

"I hope your both fond of home-made ramen. Natsuki do you have any preferences?"

Green eyes met red once again. "Er no, I'm fine with anything really. As long as it doesn't have negi in it."

"I assure you it doesn't." Shizuru smiled and to Natsuki she seemed happy, cheerful even and it made Natsuki give a small smile back. "Oh and fresh baked bread too." Shizuru took four bowls out of the cabinet and retrieved the bread.

"Is she joining us?" Chie raised her eyebrow.

"I haven't been able to get her away from that computer since she got here." she sighed as she put the food into bowls. "She wasn't meant to be here for another week but her and her oji-san had an argument and she turned up at my office this morning."

"The little tyke got on a plane and in a cab on her own?!"

Shizuru shook her head "Indeed she did. Excuse me for a moment."

Natsuki waited until she knew the brunette was out of earshot. "What the hell!" she glared at the young captain. "Why are we here?"

"Shizuru-chan invited me over to discuss what she found during the autopsy so far." she pulled off some bread and popped it in her mouth. "Therefore I thought you'd like to be a part of that plus she asked if she should make enough for four."

Natsuki pointed to herself and Chie nodded pulling more bread off the loaf.

"Why me?" she all but whispered.

"Damn Kuga, haven't you noticed yet? Your somewhat attractive." she answered with a wink.

They stopped talking as they heard arguing coming from the stairs.

"But Aunty Zuru if you got that then everything on your computer would be so much more protected. It's just a anti-virus and firewall so far but I promise you it will work." the blonde child sat down.

"I don't doubt your skills Alyssa but what _if _something does go wrong and all that data is lost or worse yet shot into cyberspace?"

"Well it wouldn't be because it doesn't work like that. The sensors on the anti-virus and firewalls are sensitive so that even if someone _attempted_ to get into the system it would go into lock down and

notify the user."

"I'll think about it, now eat."

Shizuru handed out bowls, gracing Natsuki with a small smile as she passed hers over. Silence followed as they began to eat.

"Alyssa-chan, any new friends?" Chie asked.

"No. High school students don't like being under-minded by an 11 year old."

Natsuki ate quietly enjoying the flavours of the meat, vegetables combined with the noodles and broth.

"Here."

Natsuki looked up; sucking up a noodle that was dangling from her mouth to see Shizuru handing her some bread.

"Is the food to your liking?" she asked with slight nervousness.

She wanted her to enjoy the food she cooked; when she had invited the captain over for dinner she was unsure of whether the bluenette would join them but was extremely glad that she did.

"Yeah, it's really good." she gave a small smile back.

"You're a little young to be investigating a homicide." Alyssa commented at Natsuki.

"Your a little young."

"Whats that got to do with anything?" she asked defensively.

"Nothing kid. Should we get down to business?"

"Ah, I guess so Kuga, do you mind Shizuru?"

"Not at all, Alys-" she looked over at her niece.

"Yeah, make myself scarce. Whatever." she moved away from the island and walked out, only when the three women heard the TV did they continue.

Natsuki helped to clean up before sitting down again still feeling uncomfortable in the house.

"Tea anyone?" Shizuru asked pouring water into a cup.

"Urgh." Natsuki made a disgusted face.

"Not a fan?"

"Hell no."

The brunette laughed as she finished making her drink.

"What did you guys get from the autopsy?"

Natsuki inwardly cringed wondering if Chie had heard tale of her 'accident'.

"There was nothing wrong with her organs; heart, liver, lungs ect all within normal limits. No defensive wounds meaning no evidence of a struggle. The only major injury is the blunt force trauma at the back of her head which was, from my analysis, the killing blow." she brought the cup to her lips and blew gently.

Again Natsuki was reminded of that hot breath. "But, er we did spot this weird symbol thing under her left breast.." she sat up and stretched pointing to the spot.

Shizuru openly stared as she sipped her tea and when Natsuki caught her looking she just raised her eyebrow.

"We can't figure out whether it's a birthmark or a tattoo although I reckon it's more likely to be a tattoo. I've got a person who can check it out."

"I have excised the skin and placed it in formalin so it stays preserved."

"I'll swing by and get it tomorrow."

"What I'm interested in is motive." Chie leaned back in her chair. "We all know it's not a normal crime like say a mugging but the press don't know that yet and lets keep it that way."

The two others nodded.

"Do we have an ID yet?" Natsuki asked and Chie shook her head. "The body was dumped there, the victims clothes neatly folded."

"For that much force to be exerted in the blow there should have been blood in her hair but I noted very little."

"So maybe he cleaned it up; including the folded clothes. Thats got to mean something." Chie thought aloud.

"Like what?" Natsuki asked and Shizuru calmly drank her tea.

"Hmm. Maybe he has a disorder, or it is routine for him to be so neat so he does so. Cleans the body up and then dumps it in an alleyway but why there of all places? It's dirty and unclean. Not to mention the fact she was naked."

"Then again it could be a mugging staged to look like something more sinister." Shizuru offered. "Lets not make assumptions so early otherwise we'll end up making the evidence fit a pre-conceived notion."

She had seen it before, cops would think of a logical theory of what happened and then get stuck on that idea and make the evidence fit to it. More than once she had had to explain how this or that simply could not of happened. The evidence didn't lie.

* * *

The three women sat and discussed all possible scenarios but in the end concluded that they would need all the facts – after all anything could happen. It was close to midnight when they left Shizurus home. Chie assured them they would have an ID by the morning before leaving.

"Oh, Natsuki these are today's lecture notes that you missed." she held out a small stack of paper.

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry I missed it and all. Just had work and stuff." she lied taking the paper.

They stood in the doorway of the house as an awkward silence drifted between the two.

"Well, er, goodnight Shi- Fujino-sama."

"Call me Shizuru, atleast when were not in class.

"Okay. Goodnight Shizuru."

The brunettes heart thumped a little faster when her name was spoken. "Goodnight Nat-su-ki."

She froze momentarily before abruptly walking off to her motorcycle. Shizuru closed the door smiling and walked over to where Alyssa was sitting.

Alyssa looked up at her aunt, seeing that small smile, that one was genuine and she knew trouble was ahead. After all her aunt mastered the talent for being able to render up a perfect fake smile that no-one could detect. Well apart from herself, Alysaa always knew when her aunt was faking.

"Do you like that mutt?" Alyssa asked whilst keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the flickering screen.

"Now that is not a polite way to talk about Detective Kuga." Shizuru sat next to her niece.

"Well she isn't exactly polite either."

"You don't like her then?"

"Not one bit."

"O-oh I thought she was nice but. . ." Shizuru made her voice crack and kept her tone low. "I guess I can't try anything wi--" she fell into sobs, her shoulders slightly moving up and down, her hands covering her face.

Alyssas head shot up. "No. Aunty Zuru don't cry! C'mon don't be upset, if you really like her that much then, then go for it. I wont do anything, honest." she moved closer to her aunt in an attempt to console her. "Honest I wont."

Shizuru sniffed a few times before lifting her head up and giving her niece a dazzling smile.

"ARGH!" she flopped back into the couch. "Why do you always have to do that to me."

Admittedly she was annoyed that her aunt could still convince her that she was sad when in fact she wasn't in the least.

"Ara, I can't help it, teasing is in my nature."

"Yeah right." Alyssa grumbled.

"I can help it no more than you can help being stubborn."

Alyssa opened her mouth to answer back but closed it again once she realised her aunt had made a fair point. She was slightly glad that her aunt was only teasing her, if she really was upset Alyssa would have no clue what to do.

She closed her eyes and leaned against her aunt who began to run her fingers through the golden strands.

"Hey, aunt zuru?"

"Mmmm?"

"I really like being here with you."

Shizuru looked down astounded at her nieces rare moment of openness before she smiled and gently pulled the young girl closer to her.


	3. So, I hear she's back?

**A/N: So this chapter has been a long time coming BUT it's rather long by my standards. My motivation was seriously lacking; like I have all these ideas but just communicating them to written word is difficult sometimes. This chapter I re-wrote a lot. **

**I did want to add more in but then there would just be too much in one go 'cept the next chapter is going to be the same length more or less. Plus I did a twenty mile walk so I'm feeling pretty dead. **

**Un-beated as usual. Enjoy :)**

**

* * *

**

The bus trundled along the dirt track, going over every bump the wheels happened to find. The rain poured down, drumming on the roof causing leaks in several places with the soft sounds of up her arm she wiped away the condensation on the window, creating a small patch to look out of. Whenever she came back she always felt nostalgic but this was the first time coming back with her own freedom; at a loss of what to do with the rest of her days.

"Well ma'am this is the last stop 'afore I turn back. Sure am sorry I can't take you no further in this horrid weather."

"Ah, not to worry. We're just on the outskirts right?"

The driver nodded. "Aye, that we are."

"Well then." she strapped her guitar on her back and hoisted up her duffel bag. "It's not too far, I should make it there just in time for some lunch." she grinned.

The driver let out a hearty laugh. "You young ones ey. Got more energy than you know what to do with I say."

"My good sir, you are most certainly right." she stepped off the bus and turned. "Safe journey."

"And you too ma'am." he tipped his hat to her.

With that he pulled away spraying a little mud from back tyres before retreating in the distance, she turned facing forward, squinting to try and see through the torrential downpour.

Rain started to drip down her face, droplets falling off her nose.

"Time to get going I suppose."

* * *

Natsuki opened the shop door, stepping in with Shizuru following behind and shook off the rain.

"Does Natsuki not like the rain?"

"It's fine when your not getting caught in it." she answered running her fingers through her midnight blue locks.

Shizuru chuckled at the young rookies actions before casting her eyes around the place; further up the room was an antique large desk with a phone and computer which looked much better suited for a study. There were several leather couches and a few glass tables each adorned with magazines for the waiting patrons. The floor was a light cream colour and the walls were covered in hanging drawings, pictures and paintings; if Shizuru didn't know better she would have thought this was a gallery.

Natsuki walked up to the front desk. "The old guy probably isn't here yet, c'mon."

Shizuru followed suit and walked up the stairs behind her. They reached the top and had entered an open planned room, in the centre sat a woman.  
She had teal coloured hair that was tied in a loose ponytail.

"Shizuru this is Okuzaki Akira. The tattoo artist I told you about."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Okuzaki-san."

The artist stood up and nodded her head in acknowledgement before taking off the black latex gloves she was wearing and throwing them in the bin.

"What can I do for you Kuga-san?"

"I was wondering if you could tell us anything about this."

Shizuru passed the package over and Natsuki took off the bag to reveal the excised skin stretched and pinned in a sealed glass case filled with formalin.

She placed it on the chair as Akira pulled over a lamp and shone the light on the small case.

The artist studied it for a few moments. "Well, it's definitely a tattoo, looks like standard ink was used, a simple design, all in red. It's not like you could muck this up, it's not a signature design of any artist I know. Probably just picked out of a book or better yet they designed it themselves. . ." she grabbed a scrap of paper and a pencil drawing out the symbol perfectly and handed it over. " . . . that there is the basic design. I can't say I notice anything significant about it."

"It was worth a try, arigatou Akira-san." Natsuki sighed.

She turned to say something to Shizuru but found she had wandered off to the other side of the room, intrigued by concept designs stuck up on the wall.

Shrugging she turned back to Akira. "So you reckon I can get that tattoo done now?"

"I don't know, how is your scar healing?"

The brunettes ears picked up on the conversation and she turned her head just in time to see Natsuki lift up her shirt, exposing her right side. On the middle of her ribcage sat a dressing which Akira gently peeled half off.

"The puffyness has gone down since you had the stitches taken out but I'm still un-certain."

"Oh, c'mon! It's fine honestly."

Shizuru grimaced at the sight of the scar, not liking its presence on Natsukis skin at all and mentally noted to give the bluenette some statistics on motorcycle accidents. The sight of the small contusion made her feel slightly queasy.

_'Honestly Shizuru, get a hold of yourself. You have seen much worse than this, especially when your doing autopsies ne? . . . because it's her? Do I really? No. You're just concerned, that's all.' _

"Owh!"

The sudden noise snapped her out of her owns thoughts and back down to earth.

"You didn't have to jab it geez." Natsuki put the dressing back on and pulled down her shirt with the most adorable pout Shizuru had ever seen.

Walking over she stopped to the right of the bluenette and placed her fingers gently under her chin making her turn her head to face her.  
Natsuki was obviously oblivious to the fact she was still wearing that cute pout.

"Ara, if Natsuki keeps pouting like that I might just have to take that bottom lip and . ." there was no need for her to finish the sentence as she was rewarded with a full face flush. Even Akira's cheeks had turned a different shade of pink.

It took Natsuki a full minute to get her muscles to work and step away from the older woman. "Shizuru!" was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

The bruenette laughed softly as Natsuki huffed; they were both interrupted by Akira clearing her throat.

"If that will be all Kuga-san?"

"Ah, aheemm, yeah. Arigatou again Akira."

"Ookini Okuzaki-san."

* * *

Pushing the door open she looked around, the restaurant was empty due to the onslaught of rain. The door swung shut behind her and she took a few steps in, leaving small puddles as she went. She walked past the stand where people waited to be seated, weaving through all the tables and towards the back where the kitchen was. As she got closer she could hear muffled noises coming from behind the big steel door, clanging, doors being opened and closed.

Carefully she pushed against the heavy door and stepped into the gleaming kitchen; every surface sparkled, ovens were cleaned to perfection and there was no doubt that you could eat off the floor it was so immaculate. She stood there waiting until she heard the door to the back of the kitchen swing open bringing with it a gust of wind and footsteps heading in her direction.

The chef shook off the rain shivering against the cold as she wandered back in, her eyes were downcast on a clipboard. Her attention was taken away from her papers as her ears detected the slight sound of dripping coming from inside.

"What the. . . don't say we have a leak." purple irises scanned the ceiling but saw no such thing.

Bringing her eyes back to their normal level she stared straight ahead, mouth agape. "Y-you. . " she began to smile.

In return all she did was smirk at the redhead; "I'm back." came the obvious reply. "Hey, Mai."

Mai's eyes watered slightly and she smiled prior to watching her getting tackled to the ground by a certain teenager.  
Looking up in to amber orbs she groaned softly as a stream of incessant questions came her way.

The bluenette was leaning against the wall, getting impatient for having to wait so long outside the office whereas the older woman sat perfectly still in the chair opposite her. Shizuru had noticed Natsukis foot tapping, well she couldn't _not _notice it seeming as she had being do this for the past five minutes continuously. The noise was starting to grate on her.

"Ne, Natsuki?"

Jade emeralds looked up "Hmm?" the foot tapping stopped.

Just as she was about to speak the door next to Natsuki opened and she stood up straight watching a number of people exit the room.

"Thank you for all your hard work today." a short man bowed.

"Professor. Tanaka?"

The short man looked up, his glasses sliding back up his nose as he met emerald green eyes.

"And you might be?"

"Good afternoon Tanaka-san." Shizuru stood, smiling her perfect smile.

The older mans face lit up "Ah! Shizuru-san, to what do I owe this rare visit?"

Green eyes darted from one to the other before she spoke. "Uh, wah . . you two know each other?"

"Natsuki, Tanaka-san here is also the head of faculty; or did Natsuki forget that I teach here? After all she hasn't attended any of my recent lectures." Shizuru sniffed.

"Ah no, no, it's not like that." Natsuki walked over and placed her hand on Shizurus shoulder.

_'Thump.'_  
Shizuru was extremely aware of how close the bluenette was to her and became strangely dumbstruck for a moment.

"It's just that if you already knew him then it was possible that we wouldn't of had to wait so long."

The bruenette smiled before answering. "Well, as we are in a place of education it would be only right for Natsuki to address me as Professor. Fujino."

Natsukis eyebrow twitched in annoyance, how could this woman have such easy control over her? She sighed before getting back to business. "May we talk in your office? I have some grave news about one of your students."

* * *

They exited the room giving their thanks to the Professor as they left.

Natsuki sighed. "Nothing really useful. She was a good student, in the top 5 in her class, didn't attend any after school clubs, here on a scholarship and hung out with this Haru Nakamura guy a lot. I guess we'd better question him."

"But there was nothing that indicated that the crime was sexual in any way."

"No but the person obviously cared about her enough to clean her up and fold her clothes."

They walked a little further until Shizuru realised that Natsuki had stopped a few steps behind, she turned.

"Natsuki, are you okay?"

"Ah, it's just . ." she sighed "After this, is the hard part. I've never had to tell someone that a person they cared about had died, let alone a mother about her child. How do you tell somebody that?" Green eyes locked onto red, searching for an answer.

The brunette smiled softly, watching green eyes swirl with emotion. It was a horrible task for anyone to do but it needed to be done. She herself had done it more than her fair share in her years as the M.E. "If Natsuki wants, I could go with you to help ease the burden?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

Shizuru shook her head.

"Thankyou. Really, thankyou.."

* * *

It had been a busy night; finding herself in immediate danger more than once.

Once she had finished up in the bars and clubs there was no point in going home to rest so she decided to do some recon on a few more suspects. Flipping red bangs out of her eyes she kicked the door shut and threw her bag on the couch.

Fatigue and the cold weather had set itself into her bones making her ache and shiver.

"Time for a hot bath." she turned whilst peeling off her wet jumper and just as she opened her eyes she was pinned onto the couch behind her.

Looking up to find the source of the weight pinning her down she stared, mouth wide open. All she could see was a massive grin.

"Hey Nao-chan."

"Get off me BAKA!"

* * *

They sat in Shizurus car, outside the victims house. Natsuki stared out the window at the plain white door dreading what was behind it. How could she just walk into a mothers house and break the serenity of ignorance; she took a deep breath and turned her head so she was now staring out the windscreen.

Shizuru was still, her hands folded in her lap waiting for the younger one to summon up the strength to do this heinous task.

Another shaky breath was taken as the bluenette willed her legs to move, her hands to push open the door but nothing came of it. As she inwardly cursed her own cowardice her hands clenched harder making her knuckles turn white.

_'Damnit! Why wont my body move, am I really that gutle-'_

Something soft was on her hand; bringing her thoughts back to reality she looked down to see the brunettes hand resting gently on top of hers. Without her noticing, the muscles in her hand had relaxed as soon as her skin had felt the warmth of the others. Crimson eyes searched jade ones and saw worry, fear, dread but most of all sadness.

The soft kyoto-ben filled up the silence, setting her at ease. "It's fine to take your time but remember I'll be right there, next to you."

Natsuki gave her a weak half-smile as she lightly squeezed her hand. "Okay, lets do this."

As Natsukis hand let go of hers she instantly missed the feeling of it in her own, frowning she stepped out of her car and followed her to the front door. Before knocking she looked at Shizuru who gave her a reassuring nod and a soft smile. They waited for a few moments until the door was opened to reveal an older woman, late thirties wearing a simple white dress with a small shall.

Brown eyes looked at the duo as she asked. "May I help you?"

"Mrs. Shimizu, I'm afraid we have some unfortunate news about your daughter, Reina."

"W-what's happened?" the womans voice faltered.

"May we come inside?" Shizuru stepped forward.

She opened the door wider and nodded signalling for them to both step inside.

They sat in the womans living area opposite one another, Shizuru had offered to make some tea to try and calm the nerves whilst Natsuki broke the news.

"Mrs. Shimizu-"

"Please, call me Ami."

Shizuru walked in carefully passing over the hot tea before she sat across from her next to Natsuki.

"Then, Ami-san, your daughter Reina was murdered 4 days ago." there was no easy way to put, to sugarcoat this woman from the truth.

Ami's hands shook but stopped when she remembered the hot tea in her hands, if she lost her grip she would burn herself, also the warmth from the cup was oddly comforting. No words came for what seemed an eternity, all three women sat there in silence waiting for the news to fully impact.

" . . n-noo. It can't be, you-u must be mistaken. Not my Reina-chan, you're wrong, there must be a mistake."

"We identified her through dental records, I am deeply sorry for your loss." Shizuru spoke.

Tears began to spill from the mothers eyes, running freely and quickly down her cheeks. "She, she can't be gone, no, please tell me it's not true." her words were met with silence and sad expressions. "Reina-chan, why? . . . why?"

Sobs filled the room, her hands covered her face trying to stop the onslaught of tears. It felt like someone had just stabbed her, searing pain, doubt. Her heart still refusing to believe what her brain was processing. Small footsteps stopped just in the doorway; looking over they saw a young girl about 12 or 13 with similar features to that of Reina.

"Okasan . ." came the quiet voice. "Why are you crying?"

She walked over and knelt beside her mother resting her hand on her shoulder as she tried to see her face. Straightening up she bravely wiped away the tears before hugging her child as tightly as she could.

"Kyoko, be a good girl and go study in your room for a little while?"

The young girl nodded and made her way to her room; once they were sure she was out of earshot and safely in her room they spoke again.

"I know it's difficult but I need to ask you some questions about your daughter. . ." Natsuki waited.

* * *

That evening Shizuru was cooped up in the autopsy suite, working on a late arrival. Everyone else had left for the day leaving just her and the man on her table. Anyone she knew always commented on how they would hate to be there on their own, with a fridge full of dead bodies and the eerie autopsy suite was on a lower level than her office, the reception area and the viewing room, across from where the lockers were. When you were down here you wouldn't know if somebody walked in upstairs, snuck in through the back, what the weather outside looked like and if anything within the world had changed. It really was a closed off space.  
Shizuru liked this.

Inside her domain she reigned supreme, she was the one everyone came to for advice, to pick her brain or to ask her general thoughts. Enjoying it especially on nights like these where she was the only one working inside, quiet and peaceful expect for the gentle hum of the fridges albeit every now and then the security guard would buzz down to check on her through the intercom. The brunette relished moments like this where it wasn't so hectic, where she was cut off from the world although her mind had frequently drifted back to that afternoon.

"_I know it's difficult but I need to ask you some questions about your daughter. . ." Natsuki waited._

_The mother nodded meekly as her grip tightened on the cup, craving the warmth that radiated from it. At the moment it was the only thing she felt. "What would you like to know?"_

"_Anything you can tell us, her behaviour these previous weeks, whether you noticed anything out of the ordinary." _

"_Whether she was on any medication, diet, any allergies or anything." Shizuru spoke._

_Brown eyes slowly lifted looking into wine coloured ones. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."_

"_I'm Dr. Fujino Shizuru."_

"_Doctor? . ."_

"_Please Mrs. Shimizu we need to get this information whilst it's still as fresh as possible. I don't mean to rush you but the quicker we find any clues the quicker we can get the person who did this." Natsuki looked at the tear stained cheeks. "I'm going to use this dicta phone to record everything."_

" _. .umm. . Well nothing recently has been different. Reina attended her lectures, came home and studied. Helped her sister with what homework she might have. S-she was a good girl." she broke into another round of tears. As they subsided she spoke again. " She went out with friends, you know the general things students do." _

_The bluenette nodded and asked. "Did she ever go out of town with friends? On dates?"_

_Shizuru watched as Natsuki worked, noticing she was firm but gentle. Extracting information in a way that wasn't threatening, her tone of voice was perfect, she made frequent eye contact. Natsuki knew that this woman needed to be listened to, needed to feel that someone was doing something about her daughters death and the young rookies interaction with the older woman made her feel exactly that. _

"_No, she never went too far." she sniffed and set down the cup. "Boys? Well she really wasn't interested at all, it was her work she was in a relationship with. Whenever any of us would comment on the fact she would always reply with "with my work there is no error, no mistake, no fuss, it's simplicity at it's best." - this of course pleased her father . . ." Ami paused for a moment, her eyes growing slightly wider. "Oh god, oh god what am I going to tell him? H-how? Oh god." _

_Her breathing became shallow and fast, her heart was beating so hard it was the only thing she could hear. It was becoming harder and harder to breath, she wasn't getting enough air, no matter how many breathes she took it didn't seem enough. This caused her to panic even more. Shizuru jumped up as she recognised the onset of a panic attack, Natsuki was stock still, not knowing what to do. _

_The brunette took her hands in her own and spoke in a firm voice. "Ami. Ami-san I need you to breathe okay?" Shizuru moved her head so that her eyes locked with brown ones. "Ami you need to calm down. Take deep breathes with me okay?"_

_Shizuru managed to get her breathing under control. Once she was certain that she had calmed she let go of her hands. "It was just a small panic attack, try to relax."_

_Jade eyes looked on with awe, she had never seen someone calm down another person that quickly before. If it was her she alone she would most likely be panicking herself, making it worse._

"_I need to lie down, rest, something, would you please excuse me for now?"_

_Natsuki looked to Shizuru for reassurance who answered the silent question with a slight nod. _

"_Of course, if there is anything, anything at all you remember please don't hesitate to call." she pulled a card out of her jacket pocket. "And I'm sure Shi- Dr. Fujino will answer any medical questions you may have." _

"_You, what kind of doctor did you say you were?"_

"_I didn't. I am the M.E, I performed your daughters autopsy."_

"_O-oh . . ."_

_Ami Shimizu saw the two women out but before they left she said something that stuck with them. "Reina-chan was friends with a boy, called Haru . . . Haru something."_

"_Haru Nakamura?" Natsuki asked. _

"_Ah yes, Haru Nakamura." she said a short goodbye before closing the door. _

She traded the scalpel in her hand for a hagedorn needle and started to sew up the incision with a baseball stitch. After they had spoken to the mother they were about to go and question the young man who had been already named twice when she had gotten called away.  
Natsuki had asked if she wanted to grab some breakfast with her tomorrow morning before going to question the next suspect; the normally articulate brunette fell over own words in her haste to accept. The blunette had chuckled before telling her a time and place.

She stopped her stitch before speaking out loud. "What do I wear?"

* * *

Natsuki skidded round the corner and crouched behind a dumpster as two shots hit the opposite side.

"Why do they always have to freaking run." Natsuki hastely tied her hair up.

She had been called out to a robbery in progress and being the closest to it she went for it, some guy had decided to break into a vintage jewellery shop and steal what he could before making off with it. The door was a glass plane which he had smashed through then starting smashing all the cabinets which was when she had shown up, startled him and bolted it out of there.  
They had been running at top speed for five or so minutes and Natsuki was panting slightly and knew that so was the guy she was chasing.

"HAHA CAN'T CATCH ME CAN YA?" he was taunting her, stalling for more time to catch his breath.

Natsuki counted how many times he had shot his gun and concluded he had no bullets left; if it came to a fist fight she would win. "WE BOTH KNOW YOU HAVE NO BULLETS LEFT."

The sound of metal hitting concrete echoed as she shot up and began chasing again, stumbling around the corner they ended up running down a section of the main high street. Lamp posts dimly illuminated the street making her rely on the sounds of feet hitting concrete, he was just a few feet ahead of her.

Suddenly she heard a large thud hit the ground followed shortly by a sharp pain in her left side.

"What the? . ." her vision began to blur and her body felt oddly heavy.

Two people walked out from the shadows, one over to the bluenette and the other to the thief. She reached down and took Natsukis phone from her pocket and hit speed dial.

"_Captain Harada."_

"Why hey there captain."

"_Nao . . what're you doing with-"_

" . . the mutts phone? Ah well she is currently indisposed but that guy she was chasing is down, can you send a pick up squad."

Within 30 seconds of her asking Nao saw the flashing lights and heard the tyres squeal round the corner and stop a short way from her. Flipping the phone shut she watched an officer get out of his car and hurriedly rush over to them.

He bent down reaching his hand out towards dark locks.

"Hands off Masashi!" Nao snapped and gerked her thumb infront of her. "Your guy is over there."

"B-butt Kuga . ."

"Kuga's fine now get." she looked over towards the squad car and rolled her eyes. "Would you stop flirting already! And get over here and pick up this dead weight."

"I'm coming." she walked sighing and leaned so close that their noses were barely touching. "Nao-chan, ruining my fun. Would you rather I flirt with you? Hmmm?" she smirked.

Nao stammered "S-sh-ut up you id-iot!"smacking her upside the head.

"Aha, oww." she rubbed the back of her head before bending down and lifting Natsuki on to her back and carrying her piggyback style. "Ooof, she's heavier than I remember. Still eating mayo I take it?"

"That's a stupid question if I ever heard it." they began to walk leaving the officers to sort the rest out. "Although that was some pretty sly shooting back there."

"Reckon she's going to be pissed?"

"So pissed." the red head laughed.

Buzzing sounds reached her ears disrupting her quiet slumber, pulling her arm out from the covers she patted the top of her night stand until her hand landed on top of her phone, looking at the display she answered. "Hello."

"I'm sorry, did I wake you? It's close to the time you routinely get up if memory serves so I just thought. ."

"It's quite alright Yukino, what can I do for you?"

"The new health commissioner Nagi Homura would like to see you at nine am in your office."

Shizuru sighed. "I guess it can't be helped. Ookini for the message Yukino and I'll see you shortly."

Placing her phone back on the night stand she flopped back onto her bed; her head hitting the pillow with a soft thud. Shizuru laid there for a few moments thinking of the things she had to re-arrange to make time for this man. Science is a mans world, some men still believe it so. In many of her early classes, her lectures and her training there were predominately males. At the start there were four women in total including herself; one got pregnant and settled for being a housewife, another switched courses, the third had a nervous breakdown and at the start of the second term she was the only one left. If she couldn't attend due to sickness or some other matter the men wouldn't share their notes with her, wouldn't help her in any way so she managed to find other ways of getting what she needed.

The brunette smiled fondly at the thought of her spontaneous, adventure loving and downright stubborn red-headed friend making a mental note to check up on her soon. A creaking sound came from outside her door as small hands appeared pushing it open. Messy blonde hair came into view as sock clad feet took a few steps forward.

"Alyssa-chan, it's barely six am. Why are you up so early?" she asking sitting up.

"I, er, I had a . ." Alyssa hated to admit she was scared by something so trivial, because she was a child genius people treated her like more of a grown up than her young age should allow. She felt eyes staring at her making her look up into those deep pools of red setting her at ease. " . . a nightmare. Walking up the stairs I heard your voice so I thought I could . . ." her voice trailed off mentally cursing herself for being such a child.

Shizuru patted the space next to her. "I have something to ask of you, if you don't mind that is." she spoke as her niece shook her head. "Would you come and lay down next to me for a bit? Your aunt is feeling a little lonely in this big bed all on her own."

"Course Aunty Zuru!" she ran over and jumped onto the bed before sliding under the covers.

The brunette laid back down facing Alyssa before the small blonde snuggled up closer and felt those protective arms circle around her.

"You want to tell me what your nightmare was about?"

"No, it's okay now." Alyssa sighed contentedly as Shizuru ran her fingers through her hair. "Plus I gotta keep you company in case you get all crazy lonely and decide to adopt a bunch of cats."

She laughed softly before commenting. "Well, ookini for keeping me company Alyssa-chan."

". . s'kayy . ." came the quiet reply as she drifted off too sleep.

* * *

The small blonde frowned at the presence of warm sun on her face, shielding her eyes she sat up and looked around.

In the stream of light coming through the curtains she could see the dust floating ever so gently, peacefully without any cares in the world. Bleary eyed she looked around sensing no trace of her aunt, only the faint smell of cherry blossom shampoo drifting around the room.

Alyssa sighed. "I miss you."

Shizuru had got to the office that morning around 8:30 this being later than her routine eight am start. Partially due to the fact she couldn't tear herself away from Alyssa and the comfort of her bed yet she did have a job to do; to help the dead speak. To let them tell their story through her.  
Currently the brunette was sitting in her office catching up on past due paperwork and going over the budget. They never had enough money for the equipment they needed; more advanced machines, newer surgical tools, generally because as soon as you put the word 'scientifical' in front of any piece of equipment you might need the price tripled.

Ignoring the dire look of the financial troubles they could be in her pen continued to sign her name across various reports for approval.

"Ara? For crying out loud. ." she picked up a report, exiting her office she walked the few feet to her assistants desk. "Yukino-san, could you please send this back to Dr. Takahashi and tell him that just putting 'respiratory arrest' is not a viable enough reason for cause of death. Everyone stops breathing eventually, we need something like respiratory arrest caused by heart failure due to...etc."

Yukino Kikukawa was a petite woman, small in size with short brown hair that flicked out at various angles, her trademark glasses combined with a very quiet nature. Due to her quiet demeanour and small size people tended not to take her very seriously, treating her like a pushover but as polite as she was it didn't stop her from telling off burly officers, rowdy family members, reporters and journalists who all thought they could get one over on her. She was also fiercely loyal to Shizuru, they had become fast friends during her first year here.

"Dr. Takahashi, I think he's just stuck in his old ways." she smiled.

"Stuck and unwilling to change. He's an old dinosaur." Shizuru stood with her hands in her lab coat pockets. "The Health Commissioner should be here any minute now, see him through when he comes would you?"

"I will ."

Just moments after she sat back in her chair and started on her paperwork Yukino buzzed through on the intercom.

"_Health Commissioner Nagi Homura has arrived."_

"Ookini, please show him through."

She stood up behind her desk as he entered and before her stood a short man who looked far too young to be in the position of power that he was. His white hair contrasted greatly against the red of his eyes which seemed to hold jest and trickery.

"Ah Shizuru-san it's wonderful to finally meet you. I have wanted to make your acquaintance for some time now." he held out his hand.

"It's ." Shizuru said firmly, she wasn't about to let him bully her out of her status as a fully qualified M.E. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well." she shook his hand.  
As soon as she had done so she had wanted to pull her hand back and clean it with some anti-bacterial hand gel but for the purpose of being gracious she put on her best smile and continued.

"So what can I do for you ?"

They both sat down, her desk acted as a buffer and a significant reminder that he was in her domain.

"Well I'm sure you know of the financial difficulties surrounding this place, I'm afraid we may have to slash the budget again." he gave a carefree smile.

"If you do that, _again _I might add, there wont even be enough money left for the bleach we use to clean the place. It needs to be sterile, the fridges need a certain amount of power to maintain the conditions needed for the storage of bodies. The government spends ridiculous amounts of money on things that are not needed, some of those funds could be diverted here if necessary."

"Yeah but I hate to tell you Shizuru-san-"

"Please address me by my full title; Dr. Fujino."

"As I was saying . ." he exasperated, refusing to acknowledge her status. "People don't like this, cutting up peoples loved ones, giving them horrible stitches, having a fridge full of meaningless dead people. Community favour is waning to be perfectly honest, the thought of autopsies give them the heebie jeebies."he wiggled his fingers and shuddered.

"Mr. Homura I will ask you kindly to not speak of the people under my care in that manner. It's your so called community that keep going out and murdering each other, committing suicide, beating each other until they no longer breath. I will not tolerate you speaking in such a disrespectful manner."

Shizuru looked directly at him, making eye contact but it only lasted a few seconds before he squirmed under her gaze and looked away.

"Well I would like a tour of this place, to see if it's up to standard." he smirked.

"_Dr. Fujino, a Mrs. Shimizu is here to see you."_

"I'll be right out." she stood signalling that it was time for him to leave. "I'm very sorry but I have some business to attend to. Your tour will have to be put on hold for now." she opened the door for him as he walked out.

"Okay Shizuru-san I'll be seeing you soon." waving as he went.

Once he was out of sight she turned her attention back to the grieving mother sitting on one of the couches.

"Mrs. Shimizu . ."

Upon hearing her name she looked up at a familiar face.

"Hello again, I'm sorry I didn't come sooner it's just been all a little hectic."

Shizuru smiled sympathetically and studied the older woman carefully, bloodshot eyes, frayed hair, tear stained cheeks were all signs that the realisation had settled in. Her heart twinged at the idea of how much pain this mother was in.

"Are you ready?"

Ami nodded slowly. "I'm sorry it's such a sudden request but . .I . . I just have to see for myself."

"It's perfectly fine." Shizuru caught a flash of teal hair and turned around. "Marguiette-san?"

Tomoe spun instantly on her heel upon being addressed by that wonderful voice. "Yes Dr. Fujino-sama?"

"Could you ready Reina Shimizu for viewing."

"Of course." she bowed. "I am deeply sorry for your loss."

"T-thank-you."

Gently placing her hand on the womans arm she spoke. "Now, if you'll follow me she will be ready in just a few moments time." She guided her through to the viewing area.

* * *

Natsuki awoke with a pounding headache, it felt like someone had got a pair of drumsticks and started beating on the inside of her skull. Keeping her eyes shut she tried to feel if she was injured anywhere by flexing her limbs.

_'Okay, so I can move everything, nothing overly hurts, no broken bones, no soreness, no cuts. Just a little stiffness. Last thing I remember was running then . . where the hell am I?' _

Opening her eyes she searched her surroundings through a slight haze, her sight still being somewhat blurred. Sitting up slowly she made out various familiar objects, reaching out her hand it landed on something soft and coarse. It was Duran, her dog teddy she had had ever since she was little meaning only one thing; she was back in her apartment but how?

Standing up she managed to find the door which wasn't to hard of a task; Natsuki really wasn't a morning person and if she had ever had to wake up early then her body would find the door handle on instinct. Of course this hadn't come naturally at first, only after she had stubbed her toe several times in previous situations.  
The bluenette could hear voices, one she recognised as the sarcastic tone of her room-mate Nao Yukki and the other, well she wasn't quite sure. It sounded familiar but different at the same time like when you hear a song but cant quite remember the name.

Outside of her room was bright, too bright for her liking making her squint; through the blurry haze she made out one body sitting on their small kitchen counter and another leaning against the opposite counter. The one leaning had un-unmistakeable red hair.

"Hey hey, look, sleeping beauty's up."

Natsuki padded around the counter over to the voice she recognised. "Shut it Nao."

"Somebody's grumpy this afternoon."Nao remarked.

She rubbed at her eyes reclaiming her vision slowly as she blinked. " . . this afternoon? … wait . . AFTERNOON?" sudden panic set in and her eyes snapped open.

_'FUCK. I was suppose to meet Shizuru for breakfast, oh fuckity fuck fuck what if she thinks I stood her up? What if she was waiting there for ages? On her own. Crap.' _

"Helloooo, anybody hommme?"

A spoon was being waved at her from the countertop, looking over she saw a familiar face albeit one she hadn't seen it a while.

"Happy to see me?" her old friend grinned.

"What did you do to me?"

"Well, military gal over here shot you." Nao answered.

"Shot me? With what?" Natsuki groaned as her head pounded.

"Tranq dart." the counter top dweller shrugged.

"Tranq dart . . you shot me with a FREAKIN tranq dart!"

"Eh heh heh." she rubbed the back of her neck. "Nao influenced me."

The red head rolled her eyes and continued sipping her drink.

"I'm going to kill you!" with that she jumped from her spot effectively tackling her friend onto the floor behind them.

In doing so the bowl of cereal went flying, all its contents flew out of the bowl, milk included and crashed somewhere near the both of them.

"Ah, geez that's some strength you got there pup." she winced.

Natsuki got up and her brain registered where she was suppose to be at this moment. "What's the time?"

A she sat up she coughed. "A little past three. Dude, it feels like you broke my ribs."

"God damn it. I'm LATE, because of you two."

Nao shook her head and went to help up her friend as Natsuki ran around like a blue assed fly, from the bathroom to her bedroom which she annihilated in the process of trying to grab some clothes to wear before finally rushing towards the door.

As she got there she stopped and turned slowly and spoke calmly and evenly. "I'm going to beat the hell out of you two when I get back." with that she slammed the door behind her.

"I think she's upset."

"But totally worth it." Nao added with a smirk.

* * *

"Well in this case, there is a knife wound therefore they should look for a knife, bag it, cause of death solved."

"This is the problem." Shizuru stated, walking out from the front of the podium. The brunette had always been an expressive talker, especially using her hands when she spoke. "You see the wound, identify it then find the weapon. You're only thinking about looking for what you already know, what you already see. It-"

The door slammed into the wall causing her to come to an abrupt stop as all eyes focused on the direction of the sound.

Natsuki had pushed the door, albeit a little to hard and as it slammed into the wall she cringed slightly before looking back at the 30 or so faces staring at her.

"What?" she asked rhetorically.

None of the other students said a word; taking their eyes off of the blunette placing them anywhere but on her. Feeling crimson eyes boring into the back of her skull she decided not to fight with the people who were in the way of her preferred spot and flopped down in a chair at the front.

The student who had spoken earlier cleared his throat catching Shizurus attention. "As I was saying the case is simple right? Knife wound equals knife equals weapon used equals case closed"

"Don't be a moron." Natsuki snorted.

"Excuse me?"

She swivelled in the chair facing him. "I said, don't be a moron. What are you deaf? All your doing is looking for what you already see, finding a conclusion to fit evidence." Shizuru smirked slightly, letting her carry on. "Your probably just going to be one of those guys who sits around eating doughnuts and signing stuff."

"You _both _have valid points." her voice held an authoritative tone silencing the two from going any further. "Sometimes it is that simple, a typical open and shut case if you will; yet more often than not, it will be police officers and detectives being too close minded and manipulating logic and evidence to fit the scenario. After all, what a jury will understand more than anything is simple logic. Forget trying to explain fibre analysis, particulates, microscopic analysis." she walked to the middle of the floor. "I will give you all once piece of advice; I have come to live by it, respect it and most of all appreciate it." crimson eyes scanned the small crowd of faces before locking onto bright emeralds. "Never accept anything for what it appears to be."

The young rookie couldn't break eye contact, there was something about those eyes that made her want to know everything about this woman. As soon as the brunette looked away Natsuki had the sudden urge to take the older womans face in her hands and gaze into those beautiful eyes until they told every secret, every dream, every promise, every hurt and every happiness.

"Kuga-san? . ." she got no response. "Kuga-san." Shizuru repeated.

_'She seems to be in la la land.'_

Although Shizuru did take this opportunity to openly ogle her rather cute student. She had on baggy jeans that had slipped just below her hips exposing the waistband of her underwear, a baggy cream hoody with the word 'DUCATI' emblazoned in black across the front but what completed it was the messy ponytail in which her midnight locks were restrained in.

_'Ara. . . ' _was the only thought she could muster up for a moment before collecting herself and dropping a stack of papers on the desk startling the girl behind it.

"What the- -" she jumped, confused eyes darted down then up.

"Everybody else has already left Kuga-san. If you sit with your mouth open long enough you might drool on the desk."

"H-huh? . I what!" Natsuki wiped at her mouth in haste to get rid of any supposed drool but groaned when she gathered that she was being toyed with again.

Getting up she followed Shizuru over to the podium where she was packing her things into a folder.

"Fuji-"

"Please, call me Shizuru when it's just us two. There is no need to be so formal Natsuki." she interrupted as she pushed the clips closed.

"Shizuru, I am so sorry about this morning. I missed our breakfast but totally not on purpose! I was in the middle of something and an old friend showed up and it got out of hand but yeah, what I mean to say is. ." Natsuki looked at the brunette who was wearing a puzzled expression. "I was, like maybe, if you would, would consider . ." for the life of her she couldn't figure out why she was so nervous.

Shizuru inwardly chuckled as she sussed out what Natsuki was trying to ask but it was only yesterday that she herself was sputtering over words to accept the offer. Obviously the bluenette hadn't checked her messages otherwise she would had listened to the one from her saying she could not make breakfast.

"If you would consider moving our breakfast to lunch for tomorrow?"

"I would be delighted."

Natsuki hadn't noticed that she had been holding her breath until she exhaled and gave a lopsided grin. "Awesome."

Shizuru began to head out of the room with Natsuki walking beside her.

"So where will Natsuki be taking me on our lunch date?"

Upon hearing the word date she froze, a hot blush rising to her cheeks colouring her otherwise light toned skin. Shizuru glanced over her shoulder and chuckled.

"Ara, Natsuki is far too cute."

"S-shu'up baka." embarrassed she strode past the older woman trying to maintain some form of dignity.

* * *

Chie was sitting at her desk filling out some paperwork; being a detective wasn't all fun and games. It was late afternoon, watching the constant stream of people entering and exiting, the she silently thanked whatever powers that be that she didn't have a small cubicle amidst all that chaos. She sat up and stretched out her muscles when she heard her door open, with one eye she looked and saw two familiar faces. One was sporting a furious blush whilst the other covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled.

"I'm glad you two are getting along so well." she slumped back into her chair.

"Does she _ever _let up? It's all I've been getting _all_ afternoon." Natsuki adopted the same position as her mentor in a chair.

"'Fraid not pup, Shizuru here is the master, unless you can beat her you're done for." she pushed aside the stack of papers. "So, to what do I owe this rare visit?"

"We went to talk to that Haru Nakamura guy 'cause he lives in the dorms at the uni. Not that we got a lot." she pulled out her hair band letting her hair fall free. "They were okay friends, she was his tutor and they hung out only a few times outside of the university. He asked her out often until it got to the point where she warned him that if he did it again she would stop tutoring him which frankly if it happened he would have gotten kicked out." Natsuki ran her hands through untangling it. "He's about as smart as a brick."

"Maybe he got rejected one too many times? Got some liquid courage before following her." Chie pondered. " . . but there was no sign of forced sex before or after and the folded clothes." she mused. "Okay, leave it for now but just keep a tab on him."

"Although, he did have the nerve to hit on Natsuki here."

The captain perked up raising an eyebrow. "Oh really now?"

"Ara, I believe his choice of pick up line was. ." Shizuru tilted her head upwards as she placed a finger on her chin. " 'If I could re-arrange the alphabet I'd put U and I together.' "

Chie burst out in laughter, not being able to contain it. After a few minutes she spoke "Oh god, that's funny as hell." she wiped at her her eyes. "The ice princess being asked out with _that._ Kuga you've made my day."

Beeping sounded in the office, Shizuru reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her pager.

"It seems I have some business to attend. If you will both excuse me." she opened the door.

"Wait, how did you guys get here?" Chie asked.

"We walked." Natsuki answered. "We would have taken my bike-"

"But our adorable little puppy here lost at janken." Shizuru finished.

She smirked before looking at the disgruntled bluenette. "Well we can't have you getting a cab, I won't hear of it. Now, who is about. ." watching the stream of people she spotted spikey black hair. "Masashi! Get in here!"

A bewildered man stumbled into the room, hastily saluting.

"Shizuru this is Takeda Masahi. He will escort you to wherever you would like to go."

Shizuru looked at him, by anyones standards he was a lean, handsome young man with his tanned skin, dark eyes and a small scar below his right eye. Following his line of sight she saw it rested upon Natsuki and with this came a feeling of disdain which she was sure would have shown on her face if not for her perfected mask.

"Masahi." Chie snapped.

Startled he saluted again before stuttering. "Y-yes capt-ain?"

"Please take good care of Dr. Fujino here." she sighed and looked at her tawny haired friend. "I swear he's not a complete dolt but he has to do something otherwise I'm afraid Kuga will beat him senseless if he keeps following her around like a lovesick teenager."

It was Takedas turn to blush before he quickly pivoted on his heel to avoid his crush seeing him like that.

"Thankyou Chie-san, and Natsuki don't forget about tomorrow."

She pushed herself up in her chair, feeling though she should show some respect. "Er, yeah. ." watching her walk away she saw the slight sway in her hips as she walked, the way the skirt hugged her legs and how the jacket fit her curves perfectly. Natsuki had craned her neck as far as she could before pulling it back in to face a smiling Chie.

"Tomorrow eh?"

"Don't even go there."

"So, I hear she's back?" Chie questioned with a boyish grin.

"Oh yeah, she's back."

* * *

**It's light out and I'm only just going to bed. D:  
**

**My sleeping pattern is going to be seriously screwed. -.-"**

**FML.  
**


	4. Reunion

**A/N: Iya' :) **

**It's been a while I know but some A-HOLE put a giant crack in my laptop screen. I hate people sometimes but this is a pretty long chapter. I apologise for any inaccuracies and such.  
Thankyou to everyone who reads, favourites, sets as a story alert and especially reviews ;)**

**I have a few personal thankyous' to make: **

**First being Emy-chan, my wonderful friends who reads this through for me and whom this chapter is dedicated to. **

**Second being -bitchynovich- who also helped me out *heart***

**Seriously go check out Green Eyed Devil – is AWSUMSAUCE. **

**Do Enjoy ~ **

**

* * *

**The rain was coming down strong and hard, dark clouds had gathered almost as if they knew what lay underneath them. Shizuru was crouched down by the body; she had taken out overalls and boots from the trunk of her car so that she wouldn't slip on the muddy terrain. Slowly she looked for evidence, gently moving the body to see if anything was hiding underneath.

"So, what's the story?"

"Brunette, female, between 17-19. She's been here for about maybe 36 hours. I can't give you an exact time because her body has already reached the algor mortis stage meaning her body temp is the same as the surrounding environment." as she stood up she took off her rubber gloves and looked at the surroundings.

They were on the outskirts of Fukka; this particular area being mostly forest terrain. Trees towered on either side, the trail path was a mile or so to the right of them. The ground had been turned into mush from the onslaught of rain making it so that any evidence was effectively washed away from the time she was dumped to when they found her.

Hearing footsteps the two women looked in the direction they had come from not to long ago to see a rather disgruntled bluenette making her way over.

"You might want to prepare her for this one Chie." she suggested looking at the captain.

Chie nodded and walked to meet her young trainee halfway.

"I hate this weather, just so god damn bleak. I hate wearing these bloody rain macks as well, they're hardly flattering I mean-"

"Kuga." she interrupted sternly. "You might want to brace yourself for this one okay. It's only been a few days since your first dead body, if it's too much to handle you can leave okay."

Sensing the serious tone in her mentors voice she straightened up. "If it's not related to the previous victim then why am I here?"

"Part of the training, you're assigned to every case I am whether it's related to your other ones or not." they began to walk over. "Fuuka's precinct is quite big but in the past decade things have gotten worse, people don't want to become officers, work homicides, see depressing things on a daily basis. Also we don't have many trained or skilled homicide detectives or even detectives for that matter; especially ones who care. We're understaffed and overworked." they came to a stop when they reached the designated spot. "So this way you'll get a first hand experience. Just prepare yourself or try to at the very best."

Emerald irises slowly focused upon the body but were instantly drawn down to the abdomen where she saw a long slash ranging from the middle of the ribs curving in a semi circle shape before reaching the top of the hip. The angry gash clashed against the paleness of the womans skin, making its ugly presence known.  
She looked away only when she heard Shizurus voice instructing the coroners.

"Be careful when you move the body, try not to lose any evidence that might be there."

The two men carefully lifted the body onto a waterproof sheet, wrapping it around so they didn't lose anything before placing her inside the body bag and onto the stretcher. As they walked away the shorter of the two men slipped on a little mud.

"Careful! Whatever you do_don't drop the bag._" the brunette called after them emphasising the last four words.

Natsuki just stood there quietly, not knowing how to react or what to say.

When the captain had offered to be her mentor she jumped at the chance but she didn't think that she would be thrust into the deep end this soon.

"Well if the rain lets up soon we might have a rainbow." Shizuru smiled.

"Rainbows? You're standing here talking about rainbows when a girl has had god knows what done her and has been dumped here in the forest. A girl who has just barely lived, people that care about her don't know what has happened to her. The bastard who did this is still out there, maybe even has another victim already and you stand there and talk about god damn rainbows?"

"You don't think that I know some person out there has killed this girl? You don't think I get that? You don't think I know about the coffin they're going to put her in? You don't think I know about the tiny tiny coffins they put small children in? I know about the tiny coffins, I've seen them, I have nightmares about them so yes; I'm going to talk about rainbows and fairy dust and whatever other crap that's not death."crimson eyes flashed a deep red before she turned away and left.

Chie stood there, her hands inside the pockets of her trench coat staring incredulously into green eyes. "Who the _hell _do you think you are?"

* * *

The brunette was furious, furious at that woman who thought she didn't understand the severity of a murdered girl, who thought she was just talking about rainbows for the sake of it, who thought she was ignoring the young victim.

She groaned when she saw the newscasters vans, the journalists and the overall clamour of people outside her building waiting for her. Waiting for her to stand and speak in front of all those micro-cassettes, those cameras and to efficiently deal with any questions that the vultures might have. Driving the car through she parked in her designated spot and cut the engine.

As soon as her muddy boot hit the concrete underneath they swarmed over to her like she was a piece of appetising meat.

_'They really are vultures.'_ her face never betrayed her thoughts as that perfect smile graced her beautiful features.

Shouts came from behind her as she walked towards her building before turning around and halting. The rain was still beating down.

"Lets make this quick, I'd prefer to not catch a cold." Shizuru flashed her brilliant smile.

"-sama is this case related to the girl who was murdered a few days ago?"

"Chief! Do we have a serial killer?" "How was she killed?" "What time?" "Where?"

"Ara, so many questions. Although at this point in time there isn't anything I can tell you as I have not begun my examination so I will kindly ask you all to wait patiently for just a little while longer."

The press hung on the every word of the beautiful knowing that the information would come. Even so, as she disappeared into the building they shouted after her.

Shizuru passed through the entrance doors giving the security guard a small smile and a nod before pressing the button and getting into the elevator. Once she reached her floor she stepped out and padded her way along the carpeted floor in her socks as to not track the mud in.

She had unzipped her overalls and slipped her arms out of the damp material letting it fall around her waist as she walked.

"!" Yukino gasped. "My lord, you're soaked!"

Shizuru chuckled at the younger woman. "Yukino-san I do believe we have worked together long enough for you to call me Shizuru."

"Oh no, I. . I c-couldn't."

"Could you pass me that empty plastic bag?" Shizuru asked; once it was handed over she placed her muddy boots inside and sealed the bag tightly. "Make sure those get up to analysis, once the mud has dried out we might have some luck."

"I will -" she was cut off by a stern yet caring look. "Shizuru-san. Oh and I should inform you that behind your office door sits a rather grumpy blonde."

Shizuru looked at Yukino in disbelief. "She didn't, not again. ."

"I'm afraid she did, really who gives their child access to their bank. I called your house keeper and told her Alyssa was here." she held something out to the soaking brunette.

Shizuru ran a hand through her chestnut locks before twisting her hair and doing it up in place with the clip that she accepted from her assistant. A few loose strands fell free giving her hair a slightly messed up, sexy look which didn't go un-noticed by a certain grey eyed individual who was watching small droplets of rainwater painfully slowly make their way down that slender neck.

"Marguerite-san?"

She snapped out of her daydreams at the sound of that kyoto-ben calling out to her. "Y-yes Dr. Fujino-sa-ma?" a pink tinge rose across her cheeks.

Shizuru could see what she did to the younger woman; hell it was evident all over face how Tomoe felt about her but she wouldn't tease her or act in such a manner as she would with Natsuki. Remembering the earlier incident her anger flared up again at the ignorance of the young rookie.

"I need you to help me in the autopsy suite, if you would be so kind as to go down and set up for me. She's the newest arrival."

Tomoe nodded then went to complete her task.

Shizuru placed a hand on the handle of her office door before muttering. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."

Opening the door she looked over at her desk to see her niece tapping away on her laptop, only god knowing what she might be doing this time.

"Alyssa-chan, what are you doing here?"

Intense blue eyes never left the screen. "I'm a kid, kids need visual stimulation."

"Yet your doing what you usually do, how is doing it here any different?"

"The walls in your office are purple, the ones at the house aren't."

"You know that my home is as much yours as it is mine Alyssa." she countered.

Slender fingers hovered over the keyboard momentarily before the tapping once again filled the room. Alyssa's eyes moved away from the laptop screen and watched her aunt fold up her wet overall suit and place it in her go-bag after she had changed into dry clothes.

She admired her aunt, adored her completely but that was when she was her Aunty Zuru not the infamous Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Shizuru Fujino. She hated that her aunts job took her away from her, after all she was _her _aunt and whenever they did spend time together it was only in the evenings and that was if she wasn't called out or worked late.

Although she had to admit that it was better than being back home where her mother would drag god knows what in the door proclaiming that she was in love with him. The reason she ended up here was that her mother had spontaneously got married and jetted off to some tropical island for the honeymoon leaving her stuck at her oji-samas.

She had had enough of that place too so she bought a plane ticket online and made her way here instead.

"Well if that's true why can't I _actually _live with you?" blue eyes looked pointedly into crimson ones.

"You know your mother won't allow that, she already-"

The brunette was interrupted by her office phone ringing but before she could answer Alyssa hit the speaker phone button.

"_Marguerite-san is ready and waiting._"

"Arigatou Yukino-san."

* * *

Natsuki had spent the rest of the morning being confined to a desk doing paperwork as per Chies order.

In hindsight she knew she had been stupid, why did she have to open her big mouth? Of course Shizuru knew all about that; hell she dealt with it everyday.

'_Baka! Baka! Baka!' _had been the mantra repeating in her head.

The feeling only worsened when she realised that she would have to see her again, she couldn't avoid the brunette forever. She thought about hiding whenever they were in close vicinity, the police dept. and medical building were big places, with lots of floors, lots of rooms to hide. Yeah she could do that, for an instant she felt better but the image of Shizuru standing behind a podium flashed in her mind.

"Ah fuck." she stared at the form on her desk until she heard a familiar sarcastic voice.

"What's your problem mutt?"

Natsuki looked over to see Nao leaning against the wall of the cubicle. "What do you want?"

"Me? Oh nothing, I was in the area, dropped off a nice little tip and thought I'd stop by." the red head smirked.

"Good for you."

"Oh, come on Na-chan. I came all the wa-"

Nao was cut off by someone clearing their throat behind her, turning round she frowned when she saw who it was.

"K-kuga-s-san, Cap-"

"Spit it out _already _Masashi." she rolled her lime green eyes.

At her comment his tanned skin flushed pink. "Captain Harada wants you to go over to the medical building and get the print card for the latest victim."

The blunette instantly tensed and cringed at the thought of having to confront her so soon; this of course didn't go un-noticed.

"Oh poor mutt, why don't you just get it out of the way and tell her you _loooove _her already?"

"Suck it Nao." with that she walked off.

"Natsuki loves Shizuru?" Takeda asked.

"Oh, suck it Masashi." Nao answered, unimpressed with the blunette walking away from her.

Behind them they left one very confused Takeda.

* * *

Stepping into the elevator she started to feel anxious again. On the walk over she had psyched herself up, it was no big deal right? People had work disputes, arguments and stuff which would soon be forgotten. No big deal.

Yet now that she was inside this small steel box slowly moving down to where she would find the brunette it felt like a big deal. Seeing the floor number light up an overwhelming sense of dread filled every part of her.

"You can do this Kuga. Come on, no big deal. Just business, work business. Yeah but why did you have to run your stupid big mouth you douche? Ahh no. Not the time for that, positive thoughts, positive thoughts. . . . wait, I'm giving myself a pep talk. Great." she sighed in defeat and looked at the heavy double doors in front of her.

She wasn't helping nor going near the body so protective clothing wouldn't be necessary.

Taking a deep breath she pushed on the door and walked through looking into the various autopsy suites to find which one she was in. Peering in the small glass window she assumed the person standing at the side of the table was Shizuru judging on height.

Natsuki strode into the room trying to muster up all the confidence she could.

Shizuru heard a squeak and looked over to the door to see a familiar face walking in. She put her clipboard down on the side and took off the shield covering her face.

"Kuga-san. Is there something you need?"

"Erh yeah, Chie- I mean Captain Harada sent me to pick up the print card." daringly she looked straight into crimson eyes.

"Very well." Shizuru replied curtly. " Marguerite-san could you please give the print card to Detective Kuga."

Jade eyes settled on grey ones before Tomoe went to find the print card on one of the worktops.

Forgetting her nervousness she just felt plain annoyed but what good reason did she have? That psycho worked with Shizuru on a daily basis and she thought it somewhat unfair.

Shaking her head she brought her eyes back to the woman in front of her. "So, you find anything?"

Shizuru knew she couldn't keep information from the rookie, what would be the point? So she resigned to telling her. "Yes actually. We found one small blue fibre and I guess the most important piece would be this." she moved over to the body and gently lifted the heavy arm away from the body revealing the same symbol they found on the other victim on this ones hip.

The blunette flinched slightly at the sight of the body which had been opened just like before and focused her eyes on the small red symbol. "So that could mean. . ."

"Possibly."

A small plastic bag was held out towards her containing the print card and Natsuki took it from the young apprentice. Her eyes turned hard as they met grey which stared back with almost equal intensity.

Shizuru looked at the two younger women and inwardly smiled at their little stand off.

As much as the little display amused her she couldn't let it go on much longer.

"Well we should get back to work."

"Urh yeah, I'll let you know who as soon as we get a name."

"I'd appreciate that."

With a sort of half smile she turned and walked back out.

_'Hey, that wasn't so bad after all. Maybe shes forgiven me already.' _

It had been a long day and it was still going. As usual most of the staff had already left for the day and she was the last one there. She leaned her head against the cool metal of the locker before standing up and rolling her shoulders.  
A crack echoed slightly through the deserted locker room and she let out a small groan at the bite of pain that came with it.

"Are you okay? That sounded painful."

Shizurus eyes followed over to the source of the sound; not that she needed to look she knew who the owner of that husky low voice was.

"I'm fine thank you."

Natsuki was startled by the abruptness of the reply. "How did the rest of the autopsy go?"

"Just fine." Shizuru began to walk out of the locker room.

"Find anything else?"

"It'll be in the report."

The blunette was beginning to get fed up of this, all she was doing was asking politely how things went and here was the big hotshot medical examiner being downright rude.

"Anything strange come up? I mean you must see some pretty strange things in like what you do but you do it so you must enjoy it." Natsuki rambled as she stepped into the elevator with the older woman. "Y'know-"

"Look." Shizuru moved in front of her. "Do you think I take some perverse pleasure in what I do? I do this because somebody needs to speak up for those poor souls, the ones who have been left, forgotten, beaten and dumped like a careless piece of junk. They should not have to be alone! But then again all I do is talk about rainbows and crap right?"

The doors opened and she stalked out, Natsuki hot on her heels.

"You're still pissed about earlier? Really?" the anger rising. "It was a silly little argument, come off it."

She reeled round bringing her face to face with her again. "This may be hard for you to believe Natsuki but I do have feelings and emotions on the contrary to what people might say about me because of my job." deep red eyes stared back into emerald ones with frightening ferocity. "Don't you dare ever assume that I take what I do lightly."

"You were completely fine earlier when I walked in. What the hell is your problem!" she all but shouted to the back of the woman.

They came to a halt outside Shizurus office door.

"My problem Kuga, is snot-nosed detectives like you believing whatever they want. Thinking they are the bee all and end all because they've seen a few bodies so of course they're qualified to put me in my place! Unlike most I do not chew people out in the workplace, would it of made you feel better if I yelled at you right then and there? Don't run before you can walk."

"Hey! You know nothing about me so don't place your judgements on me."

"Well you're doing a wonderful job of living up to them detective."Shizuru snapped as she pulled open the door.

"Well you are-" Natsuki was stopped when Shizuru put her hand across her mouth to shut her up.

"Shhh." she brought a finger to her lips before gesturing and the sleeping form of her niece. "She must have waited."

"Ohh." Natsukis voice dropped an octave.

Her hand had subconsciously moved up to take Shizurus away from her mouth, effectively holding it as they hung limp between the two women.  
The brunette went to move but felt the tug on her hand, her eyes looked down then back up to Natsuki who was looking straight ahead. Shizuru heart fluttered slightly at the sight and the strong hand holding onto hers.

"Er Natsuki it would be much appreciated if you let go." she said quietly.

_'Crap! How long have I been holding her hand for?' _she thought. "Oh god. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's fine, Natsuki can hold my hand whenever she enters a dark room." Shizuru teased.

"B-baka! That wasn't, I didn-t mean. ." her face turned at least three shades of pink "Argh. Whatever!"

Alyssa stirred slightly on the desk hoping the offending noise would go away so she could get back to sleep. Shizuru smiled at the small girl before walking over and gently brushing some hair out of her face.  
The initial tension between the two women had dissipated and Shizuru began to pack up Alyssas laptop and notes.

"Is she allowed to stay here this late?"

"She probably fought Yukino tooth and nail. Nothing can stop this one when she gets going, hard headed, stubborn, speaks before she thinks. Ring any bells?"

"I'm sorry Shizuru. Earlier, this morning I was just overwhelmed and that kind of transferred over." she could see the older woman wondering how to get the child out without waking her. "Do you need a hand?"

"How are we suppose to get her out of here?"

"Piggyback?" Natsuki suggested.

They had managed to get Alyssa onto Natsukis back; her small arms fell limply over her shoulders and her arms were holding her up.

"What do you feed this kid?" Natsuki huffed. "Bricks?"

"Gomen Natsuki. My car isn't much farther."

Crossing the short distance between the doors and the car park she managed to put Alyssa in the backseat without disturbing her slumber.

"Ookini Natsuki. I'm truly sorry for my outburst earlier."

She waved her hand in dismissal of the comment. "Forget it. It was my fault in the first place 'cause of what I said. I opened my big mouth before taking everything into account. If you let me I'll make it up to you."

Shizuru smiled devilishly at the young detectives words, it was almost to easy. Stepping forward she backed Natsuki up against the side of the car, their bodies extremely close. "Ara, Natsuki is going to make it up to me hmmm? I wonder how." she brought a finger up to her chin and tilted her head in a mock gesture of thinking. Natsuki felt her body flush, a tingling sensation made its way down her spine. "Oh! That must be it." smouldering red eyes fell downwards and she leaned closed to Natsukis ear and whispered. "Is Natsuki planning to do _this _and _that _with me?"

She felt the hot breath on her ear and the low timbre of Shizurus voice was incredibly sexy, she wouldn't lose face, not again. In return she leaned forward, pressing their bodies together as her hand reached over and moved chestnut locks away from her ear. Shizuru felt an involuntary shiver run throughout her body and she was sure her own cheeks were slightly flushed.

"In your dreams Shizuru."

The blunettes voice was husky, god she wanted to take Natsuki right there.  
Natsuki had noticed the hitch in the older womans breathing causing her to smirk, two could play at this game. She carefully moved out from her place between Shizuru and the car, her hand ghosted along the brunettes side as she did so.

"Say, how about lunch tomorrow? 12?"

Shizuru cleared her throat before answering. "That would be wonderful. I'll meet you at your place ne?"

"Excellent." as Natsuki walked away she added a slight swagger to her hips, enjoying the effect she had on the older woman.

When she deemed the other was out of earshot Shizuru leaned back against the car and muttered. "God help me."

* * *

Shizuru had reached the blunettes apartment door a little earlier than she was expected; her mind kept playing back the moment they shared last night over and over and _over _again. She took in a shakey breath before knocking lightly on the door. A minute or so passed until she heard some form of movement then what she thought was an '_ow! Fuck. Stupid couch.' _

The door opened to reveal a rather sleepy Natsuki rubbing her eyes.

The brunette inwardly squealed _'Like a cute puppy.'_

"Good afternoon Natsuki." she greeted politely.

Groggily she yawned making her eyes water slightly before she beckoned the older woman in. Shizuru stepped in looking around the mediocre apartment; in front her was a small living area consisting of a couch and a flat screen tv, further back was a rather small kitchen area, across from that was a worn out round dining table. On the far left wall she could see two doors, one slightly ajar showing that it was the bathroom and the other she assumed was a bedroom.

"Sorry about the state of the place, haven't had a chance to tidy properly." Natsuki apologized as she began to wake up.

"Ara, but it isn't all that messy." which in truth it wasn't, there were papers scattered across the small table between the couch and the TV, a laptop left on the couch, some things still left in the sink.

The rookie just smiled before speaking. "Please make yourself comfortable, I'll be just a minute."

"Ookini."

Natsuki noticed what the other was wearing; a pleated beige skirt that stopped halfway down her thighs if not a little shorter, a lilac coloured shirt that hugged her cleavage rather nicely with her hair tied up.  
She swallowed hard, keeping her hands to herself after last night was going to be problematic at best.

Shizuru went to sit down but before she did she just looked down at the seat spotting a pair of red lace underwear. "Ah so Natsuki likes to wear lace panties hmm?" she arched her eyebrow up.

"What?" she squeaked. Quickly she saw the underwear that was left on the couch. "For crying out loud, im'a kill her." she picked up the offending piece of material and made her way over to another door. "OI SPIDER! How many times do I have to tell you to stop leaving your underwear on show." Natsuki banged on the door repeatedly.

"Would you SHUT IT already. God damn mutt." the red head yelled from the other side of the door.

She'd had enough, swinging the door open she stomped in throwing the underwear at her room mate who groaned in response. Natsuki opened her mouth to shout something yet nothing came out when she saw the lump in the bed move and peer over the covers.

The three women just stayed like that for a moment before they heard someone yelling.

"Hey! I know you're in there, come out you slut! I know my fiancé is in there!" came the angry voice, male.

Naos eyes widened in disbelief at the voice and the blonde looked as though she was about to jump out of her skin.

"Nao, you didn't? You fucking didn't?"

She shrugged in response.

"You did! You freaking idiot! Somebodys fiancé really?"

The brunette stood in the kitchen slightly bewildered at the whole scene taking place in front of her, the banging and yelling continued and she wasn't about to open the door. She watched Natsuki stalk out of the bedroom and fling the door open and as soon as she had opened it she was pushed up against it.

"Where is she!"

"Who the hell are you?" she struggled against his grip, this guy was strong and weighed a hell of a lot more than her. "Get off me." she pushed him.

He stormed in, his eyes darting from once place to another frantically to try and locate and most likely murder Nao.  
The red head opened her door slightly and peered out seeing the big guy, she thought she managed to get here unnoticed last night. Someone ratted her out.

Brown eyes locked onto green ones and instantly she slammed the door shut leaning against it, not that it would do much against that brute. Natsuki saw it and ran in front of the door getting held against it in a choke hold, her hands pulled at the grip he had against her.

Hearing all the commotion inside she climbed from the fire escape into the bathroom and watched what was happening. In a second she ran and jumped on the guys back, the extra weight forcing him to let go.

The bluenette slid to the floor coughing and spluttering, behind her the door opened and she saw Nao rushing the blonde out of the room and into the bathroom so she could escape down the fire escape. An almighty crash came from Shizurus right and she turned to look at the brute and the strange woman on the ground, the table knocked over.

The unknown woman stood up exactly when the man did and pushed him into the window behind, dazed he was caught off guard and was pushed again. Before he was able to retaliate there was the sound of smashing glass as the big guy and the unknown woman went through it.  
Natsuki relaxed and slumped down against the wall as Nao stepped out of the bathroom cautiously. They both looked over to the now smashed window to see their friend emerge from the little terrace outside.

Gently brushing a few stray pieces of broken glass from her jacket she held out her hand to the brunette and smiled.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Neko."

Shizuru blinked a few times just to check that she was awake, that what had just happened really did happen and someone actually named their child cat-san?

"Cat-san?" she automatically shook the other womans hand.

"Her name. ." Natsuki coughed. " . . isn't actually neko, it's Ann Lee." she coughed again as she managed to stand up.

Nao and Neko both gave her an incredulous look.

"Oh don't give me that." she massaged her throat, walking over to the kitchen. "Shizuru is cool." opening the fridge door she grabbed a bottle of water and took a large swig.

The brunette looked down at the hand she was holding onto, her eyes trailing up the forearm noticing it was covered in an array of different butterfly tattoos. Her line of eyesight went from the womans arm to her face; she had short black hair just above her shoulders and her fringe got in the way of blue eyes.

Regaining her composure she smiled back and spoke. "It's lovely to meet you Ann Lee."

"Pahhh. Call me neko, everyone does." over her shoulder she looked out through the broken window and onto the small terrace. "Erh, what you wana do with him?"

"Just cuff him somewhere?" Nao piped up from the bathroom.

Neko walked over to the brute who was semi-conscious and mumbling something, she pulled on his arm dragging him across the floor. "Cor he's heavy. You give me a hand." she aimed at the red head who rolled her eyes before walking over to help. "Na-chan where are your cuffs?"

"Table." her voice was hoarse.

Shizuru moved over to the young detective and gently touched the side of her neck. Natsuki jerked a little before she relaxed into the soft touch.

"Natsuki I'm just going to check your neck okay."

"What? Why? I'm alive not dead."

"Natsuki you have to go to medical school to become a medical examiner. Just because I work with the dead doesn't mean I can't with the living."

She made an 'o' shape with her mouth. "Sorry 'bout that. Just a moment of stupidity."

Soft fingers gently pressed around her neck, checking for any permanent damage, any sore spots. Emerald eyes closed at the contact, her muscles relaxed, the adrenaline that was coursing through her was slowly fading. She was enjoying the moment, the contact, the smell of cherry blossom shampoo and the faint hint of lavender.

"It seems you're just fine although you might have some bruising." Shizuru pulled back slightly. "Does this happen often?"

"What? Oh, strange men barging in and almost killing me because Nao decides to fuck some girl whose already attached? Yeah, frequently." she took another sip of water.

"Oh come on. It's happened twice, three times tops." she shrugged.

Natsuki shot her her infamous death glare. "When you're the one being strangled then you get to comment." she eyed the broken window. "And you can pay for the window."

"B-but how-w am I. . ." Nao felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

"_I'll _pay for it seeming as it was me who pushed him through it." she smiled. "We cuffed him in the elevator, a unit will pick him up soon. I'm starved, lunch anyone?"

* * *

Natsuki had her hands shoved on her jeans pockets and her shoulders hunched over as she walked a few steps behind her friends with Shizuru. As soon as Neko had mentioned lunch Shizuru had told them about their plans and they had invited themselves along.

"I'm sorry about the tag alongs." she apologised to Shizuru somberly.

The bruenette chuckled. "It's okay, I never knew Natsuki had such lively friends especially one named after a feline."

"Ah that. Nah it's just a nickname that she got given. She used to work in the military, was a solider then got recruited by the government to do well shady government stuff." she shrugged before continuing. "Only me and Nao and you now I guess, know her real name but to everyone else she's neko."

Natsuki looked ahead and saw her two friends pushing each other playfully, Nao being hardly amused. Shizuru saw the soft smile the bluenette gave her two friends and she couldn't help but give a small smile of her own.  
They came to a halt when they reached the other pair waiting outside a set of glass doors.

"This place has _the _best food in all of Fukka I swear." Neko stated.

"Ara, I believe I haven't been here before."

"Me either."

"That's cause you live on take out mutt." Nao snorted.

Nao exchanged a knowing look with her dark haired friend before pushing the door and walking in. It was pretty much like every other restaurant, someone would seat you then bring you a menu and wait until you were ready to order. It wasn't a high class joint but it held an air of respectability, a steady stream of chatter filled the air but what caught the four womens attention was the wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen.

Clearing several tables she walked back into the kitchen and placed the plates and cutlery in the large washing up sink before heading over to her orange haired mentor.

"That smells good Mai."

The young chef chuckled. "You say that about everything I cook Mikoto."

She pouted "But it's true."

Mai laughed again and ruffled her friends short spikey hair. "I know. Apparently it's getting busy out there so do you mind taking orders?"

"It's what you pay me for." she shrugged.

Walking out of the kitchen she grabbed her notepad and pen, pushing the heavy door open she looked out amongst the crowd choosing who she wanted to serve first.  
Golden eyes caught a glimpse of what seemed like midnight blue hair, her heart beat faster in excitement. She only knew one person with that colour hair, said person she hadn't seen in an age. Rushing in between tables and ignoring a few customers on the way she hid behind one of the plants waiting to confirm her suspicions.

They were seated by one of the front windows at a round table; Shizuru sat with her back to the window, Natsuki on her left facing the window, Nao next to her and Neko taking the last spot on the other side of Shizuru.

"Someone will be along to take your order shortly." the hostess smiled.

Natsuki opened up her menu and looked over it before sighing. "Nothing with mayo? What's the world coming to."

"Natsuki likes mayo?" Shizuru grimaced.

"You don't like it? It's like the most amazing thing in the world, it goes with just about anything. Damn good on its own too."

"Mutt here has an addiction to it." Nao rolled her eyes.

Emerald eyes looked into crimson ones witch such earnest, such child like innocence. "You really don't like mayo?"

"I. . . er. ." the brunette faltered. "I guess it's not too bad, I'm just not keen on it." she lied. In all honesty she couldn't stand the white gloopy condiment.

"Well atleast you don't count it out altogether!" Natsuki smiled. "I think I'll have-"

The sentence was cut short when she was bowled over in her chair by something heavy.

Natsuki looked up at the heavy weight pressing down on her and recognized the amber orbs and short messy hair in an instant.

"Mikoto. ."

"NA-CHAN! You're back!" Mikoto wrapped her arms around her old friend tightly.

"What?" I never went anywhere." she struggled against the younger girl who was surprisingly strong. "Mikoto I have to breathe. Let me go!"

Mais head snapped up at the loud sound of a crash coming from the front; she was left in charge so any breakages, damages or arguments had to be sorted by her. Turning the heat down on the soup she was currently preparing she rushed past the other kitchen staff and out into the main part of the restaurant.  
Violet eyes darted from one area to the next before spotted what she assumed was Mikoto pinning down a customer. She walked briskly past the tables apologising for the commotion, once she reached the spot she was mad as hell.

"Mikoto what the hell do you think you're doing?" she spoke through gritted teeth.

On hearing that voice and especially the tone it held she stood bolt upright staring apologetically into Mais eyes.

"Natsuki are you okay?" Shizuru asked, it had been an eventful day so far to say the least.

Brushing herself off she got up. "Huh? Yeah I'm fine."

"Natsuki. . ." Mai muttered before tearing her gaze away from her young friend.

Violet eyes met emerald ones. "Mai. ." Natsuki let slip a small smile.

Suddenly she was caught off balance but managed to stay upright this time wrapping her arms around her old friend.

"Baka baka baka." Mai spoke softly, sniffing. "Why didnt you. . Baka."

"It's good to see you too Mai." Natsuki tightened her hold.

* * *

**Yes yes, I know an original character who has nothing to do with anything from Mai Hime etc but this is fan_fiction _right. Plus she's central to a certain character in the story ;) No one else would work from the Mai Hime verse. **

**As for the name 'neko' I honestly tried to rename her but do you ever get that thing with your characters where you try something different and it just doesn't work? It's just not right. Like when you write a scene and you try and get them to do something and it just wont work. Thats what this was like. **

**I guess either you'll like it or you wont but I do hope you stick with it.**

**Reviews would be appreciated as usual :)**


	5. Green tea & honey

**A/N: Here you go.  
Enjoy ~**

* * *

Once service had died down, both Mai and Mikoto joined the others at the table for a brief chat. Shizuru was curious as to who the flame haired woman was, she could sense that there was, or had been something between the two.

Gently wiping the corner of her mouth with her napkin then putting it back in her lap she asked. "So, how do you two know each other?"

Natuski watched as the brunette blew on her spoon before eating. "Urh. . . we met ages and ages ago, at Fuuka Academy."

Mai playfully slapped her arm. "It wasn't _that_ long ago Natsuki." she turned to Shizuru. "See, she had or rather still has this obsession with mayonnaise. . ." the blunette glared at her. ". . And if she couldn't be bothered to cook for herself, which was most of the time that's all she would eat. So I took it upon myself to fatten her up a bit by cooking for her and making sure she got all the stuff a growing girl needs. She put on a few pounds that year."

Natsuki grunted. "Bloody hard to work it all off as well. You own this place?"

"Ah, no I'm training under the chef right now."

"Well Tohika-san your food is wonderful." Shizuru genuinely offered up.

"I don't know; your ramen could give Mais' a run for its money." the blunette innocently complimented.

The other two members of the group looked at the young rookie with arched eyebrows, evidently thinking the same thing.

"What?" she said with a cheek full of noodles. "I had dinner there, we were discussing a case."

"Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Shut up Nao, don't be rude."

Shizurus pager went off; she picked up her phone and dialled the number. "Where did you find him? Okay. . no don't let anyone get anywhere near him, just secure the scene till I get there." finishing her call she stood. "Gomen everyone, I have a matter to attend to but it was lovely meeting you all."

Natsuki moved to leave as well.

"Natsuki, you should stay with your friends. This one is under different circumstances and I'm sure I can find my way back."

"Urh, if you're sure."

"Of course, I'll see you soon."

As she walked out she could hear the defiant voice. "Get that damn negi away from me."

Pulling on her crime scene clothes, the spare set she kept in her trunk, she started to wonder. They all seemed to be such a close knit group, did she try to make a place for herself? After all she was only a colleague of Natsukis.

'Ara, _just_ a colleague.' she thought.

Ever since she had laid her eyes on the blunette she had the overwhelming urge to want to find out everything about her. To understand her, she knew it would be tricky and she liked that. There's an intricacy in those emerald eyes.

Or was she just too old? To old and tired to fit in with them, the only one close to her age she assumed was Ann Lee. Nasuki was only twenty one; she was walking, talking and learning even before she was born. God that made her feel ancient.

In her line of work she saw the effects age had on the body along with what smoking, drinking, drug abuse and a number of other things could do.

Although her recent physical said she was in perfect shape, she was a non-smoker, only drank occasionally, cooked and ate fresh food, worked out but her blood pressure was a little high and her doctor said she could do with a vacation from stress. Other than that she was in fine health.

Leaning against her car she let out a heavy sigh and looked up at the sky. What to do? Pursue the young girl and her close group of friends or just go her own separate way.

* * *

The morgue was her place, her kingdom where she reined queen. Powerful, respected and lusted after. A place where he knew she would be, where he could leave his gifts for her, he hoped she would proud. After all, this was for her.

She would look at the injuries and read what happened, what he did. She would know and only she would understand, understand what every blow, every slash, and every bruise done. Just thinking about it he started to get giddy.

His work here was done, now all he had to do was wait.

She would recognize this, she would recognize his work.

* * *

Shizuru had an intense dislike of Wednesdays, she wasn't quite sure why but she just couldn't stand the day. It just seemed to be a dull time of the week, everyone knew it was the middle of the week so they struggled to put any effort into work knowing that once this day was over there were only two left until the weekend.

Even so, when she was in the city she was always on call, answering her phone at ridiculous hours of the morning to some baffled police officer.

Her hands were shoved in the pockets of her lab coat as she was on her rounds check. She was well known for starting from the morgue and working her way up to the labs to check on people and how they were doing. The staff were used to it by now and even a few welcomed her sporadic visits. It was also an excuse to get out of paperwork for a while.

Then there was Takumi who seemed to be overly cheerful on Wednesdays. "Hey Chief!"

"Good Morning Takumi-kun." she smiled at him.

"You're checking up on us all aren't you?"

"Lets just say it's nice to be out from behind my desk for a while."

Takumi laughed. "It's a beautiful day out there, you should have lunch outside."

"It seems a little grey to me."

"Either way fresh air is good for you." he began to walk away, whistling.

In all honestly Takumi was a cheerful person; it was very rarely that something brought him down. She just probably noticed it more today than usual.

Up next were the labs, which were always backed up.

She wanted to check to see if there was anything in the mud from the boots she wore at the crime scene of the second victim. The killing was more brutal than the last.

Stepping off the elevator she made her way down a corridor, passing desks cluttered with slides, sheets, clothing, lab analysis and everything else. She rounded the corner to find one of her favourite people.

"What have you got for me today?"

"It's looking grim, I gotta' say."

Emy was an exceptionally bright young woman, with sharp wit and a very sarcastic sense of humour. She had short blonde hair with a blue streak in the front of her fringe and keen blue eyes. She was loyal to Shizuru and put a rush on anything given to her.

"Nothing at all?"

"Well I found a blue fibre but it's a generic cotton polyester blend which means-"

"It can be from pretty much anything." She sighed. "Either way document it and put down the details. Ookini Emy." she placed a hand on her shoulder.

* * *

Mondays.

What was it about Mondays that made people act bat shit crazy? Everyone you passed seemed to be angry or in a rush. They hadn't done this or they hadn't finished that. Then you would get those overly cheery people at 8am in the morning.

Those people who would be smiling and high on sunshine or something. This was Natsukis experience when she picked up her order from the small café.

Stepping off the elevator and making her way towards Shizurus office she almost collided with a rather peeved Yukino.

"Woah, you okay?" she asked holding the drinks either side of her.

"Who does he think he is? Telling me I should go off and make tea and shamelessly trying to win Shizuru-san over. Every time he does it, every time. The sleezy guy!" she looked up at the blunette. "You better sort him out!"

"Er, yes ma'am."

"Good, the conference room is down the corridor. The Chief will be along in a minute."

She nodded and headed off down the corridor.  
The conference room had a nice view of the city and was glass panelled so that people walking past could see in on their way round. There was a long table in the centre that could sit about fifteen people if needed.

Pushing the door open with her foot she set down the drinks and looked at the guy who was sitting at the head of the table and staring out the window. He was quite tall with dark hair, a lean frame and wore a designer suit with rather flashy cuff-links.

She hated this guy already.

He turned to face her and let show a smirk. "Ah, you must be Natsuki?"

"Kuga."

"Ah yes, very well." he said taking the chair at the head of the table. "I hear you have a talent for reading human behaviour. You should attend one of my talks sometime, they are very renowned."

"Sorry but Kuga-san has more than enough on her plate." came a voice from the door.

There stood the brunette, her crimson eyes scanning a file.

"Dr. Fujino, or may I call you Shizuru?"

"Dr. Fujino will be fine." closing the file she stood next to the blunette.

Natsuki saw the look of annoyance that flashed across his face at being shot down but he quickly recovered.

"I asked your assistant to make us some tea but just in case it tastes awful I brought you some." he reached behind him and picked up a disposable cup. "Green tea with a slice of lemon."

Shizuru was about to answer when another cup was held in front of her.

"Green tea sweetened with honey from that place you like a few blocks away, still hot."

She took the cup and brought it to her lips. "Ookini Kuga-san."

Natsuki pulled out the chair in front of her and sat down, looking smug. The brunette walked over to the chair he was sitting in and waited for him to move. He got up and sat opposite the blunette, he took a sip of the green tea and out of the corner of her eye Natsuki saw the right side of his lip twitch in disgust.

"Kuga-san this is Reito Kanzaki, he's the profiler who will be helping us with this case."

"Why? Why do we need help?"

"Well a mere rookie can hardly solve this case. Me and Dr. Fujino will be working closely together, I'm sure you'll be kept informed."

"Let's get on with it shall we." she slid the file over to the profiler.

After a few minutes he spoke. "So far there have been two victims, both female, both found naked. It seems the perp went from using a heavy object to a knife. You said there was no sexual component?"

"That's right. Both PERK kits came up negative for any type of sexual activity."

"And there's the matter of this symbol. I don't recognise it from anywhere."

"Well we looked at it and on both victims, it's a tattoo." Natsuki leaned forward. "We took it to a tattoo parlour but the artist didn't recognise it as anyone's particular style or signature. The other thing that's bothering me is that it can't be a coincidence, not when it's that particular."

"It's a big city, lots of people etc."

"Well shit, did your amazing skills tell you that or you just look out the window?"

Reito didn't bite; he just smiled condescendingly at her before continuing. "I'm guessing the perp would be male, in his late twenties to mid-thirties. He's organised, obviously has a vehicle to transport the bodies and from these pictures of clothes; they were folded when you found them?"

"Yeah, like he didn't want them to be out of place. You don't just fold up a persons clothes after you've killed them for the fun of it so I'm guessing he may care about his victims."

"That doesn't account for the second victim. There's no evidence suggesting that." Reito countered.

"It might-"

"Well there isn't much to go on although I can see why you're concerned." he looked at his watch. "Keep me updated and Natsuki you would do well not to make a fool of yourself. Now if you don't mind, I have a TV appearance to make."

Shizuru followed a fuming blunette down the hall, trying to steer her towards her office. The entire way Natsuki was throwing out insults.

"Could he love himself any fucking more? I reckon if he could blow himself he'd do it 'cause noooooo one would be good other than him."

They passed Yukino who was still annoyed about being asked to make tea. Tea! She wasn't some damn run about.

"Shizuru, I need a quick word with you." Yukino said rather sternly.

The chief knew better than to tell her to wait so she stood politely and listened.

"I am not some servant that can be ordered by some guy who thinks he's a big shot because he's got a fancy degree."

"I completely understand." she placed a hand on her shoulder. "I shall make sure it doesn't happen again."

She hurried after the blunette and managed to manoeuvre her into her office. She shut the door behind them whilst the onslaught of insults were still coming.

". . . his head get any further up is own ass, jesus chr-"

Natsuki abruptly stopped when Shizurus hand hit the wall next to her head and she found the brunette trapping her against it.

There was a split second before she felt soft lips on her own, lips that tasted wonderful. Shizuru's tongue found her own and they danced around each other before her bottom lip was gently bitten.

Breathless, the rookie spoke "Damn. . .you're really, really good at that."

All she could see was the brunettes face hovering over her own, those slightly bruised lips begging to be kissed.  
She pulled the older woman so that her body was pressed fully against her own, she let out a small moan before returning to her lips. Her hands slid underneath Shizurus shirt and came in contact with silky skin; the brunette broke away from the kiss and started on her neck.

Natsuki moved her head, giving her more access. She felt teeth bite down and let out a small whimper, her nails ran down the brunettes sides causing her to arch herself against Natsuki.

They heard someone hammering against the door.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long.**

**If any of you are still out there haha **


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